Cooch Behar: 5 Panchayat members join Trinamool

Cooch Behar: The Balrampur-II village Panchayat chief, along with four Panchayat members, left the BJP and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday.

They joined the TMC under the leadership of district TMC president Abhijit De Bhowmick. Cooch Behar District Secretary of TMC, Rajendra Kumar Boidya and other leaders were also present.

In the Panchayat elections, the BJP won 7 out of the 12 seats in the Balrampur-II Gram Panchayat (GP) of the Natabari Assembly while the TMC won 5 seats. Consequently, the BJP took control of the GP. However, after the TMC won the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat in the general elections, a total of five Panchayat members, including Balrampur-II village Panchayat chief Aarti Barman, joined the TMC on Tuesday.

Abhijit De Bhowmick said, “They are being joined by talking to local leaders. In the Panchayat elections, the BJP won 24 Gram Panchayats and the Trinamool Congress won 104 GPs. However, after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results, BJP-held GP members have been joining the Trinamool one after another.” Cooch Behar district general secretary of BJP, Biraj Bose, said: “Everywhere, Panchayats are being threatened to join the Trinamool. The TMC is forcibly locking the GPs.”