Bengal: Cong leader Santosh Pathak joins BJP

Kolkata: Congress councillor Santosh Pathak joined the BJP on Monday in a shot in the arm for the party in central Kolkata ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

Pathak, who represents Ward 45 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), was welcomed to the BJP by the party’s state president, Samik Bhattacharya.

BJP is likely to field Pathak from the Chowranghee seat, party sources said.

It was another setback for the Congress, which won two seats in the 2021 elections to the KMC. Its Ward 137 councillor, Wasim Ansari, had earlier joined the TMC.

Pathak, a four-time councillor, has been able to hold onto his ward despite a TMC surge across the city.

The TMC has re-nominated three-term MLA Nayna Bandopadhyay, the wife of party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, in the Chowranghee seat.

Pathak fought as a Congress candidate in Chowranghee in 2021, securing around 13 per cent of the votes.