BJP’s Ranaghat MLA joins TMC, says will work for ‘development’

Kolkata: The BJP MLA from Ranaghat-Dakshin constituency in Nadia, Mukut Mani Adhikari, on Thursday, joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during the women’s rally led by Mamata Banerjee on the eve of Women’s Day.

Adhikari hails from the Matua community. The development comes at a time when former TMC MLA Tapas Roy and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay have joined the BJP. After joining the Trinamool, Adhikari said: “I need development of Nadia district as well as development of Ranaghat. People of Nadia have been deprived in the last five years. That is why I joined the Trinamool.”

He was elected as an MLA from Ranaghat-Dakshin constituency in Nadia district in the 2021 Assembly elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he was announced as the BJP candidate from Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency. Later, however, his name was cancelled and BJP leader Jagannath Sarkar’s name was instead announced. Sarkar was elected MP from Ranaghat.

Sarkar said Adhikari’s exit would not affect the BJP. “He never took politics seriously. His only target was to be an MP. That should not be one’s political aim” he said. A BJP source alleged that Adhikari went to Delhi to seek a Lok Sabha ticket but when the attempt failed, he joined Trinamool.