Tripura: Leaders of different political parties jump ship to Congress

Baptu Chakraborty said he decided to quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party as it was working in the interests of the BJP.

The Trinamool Congress unit in Tripura suffered a major setback with a section of its workers led by senior TMC leader Baptu Chakraborty quitting the party and joining the Congress on Sunday. The development came just months ahead of the next Assembly polls in the state.

Speaking to Northeast Live in Agartala, Baptu Chakraborty, who joined the TMC in September last year, said he decided to quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party as it was working in the interests of the BJP.

Explaining his decision to return to the Congress, Chakraborty said the party led by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi was the largest platform opposing the BJP.

He added that he has joined Congress with the goal of removing the BJP from power in the state in 2023.

Meanwhile, the All India Congress Committee leader and in-charge of Tripura Szarita Laitphlang said over 2,517 people from different parties, including the TMC, the CPI(M), and the BJP, joined the Congress on Sunday. Laitphlang further said Congress was the only force capable of putting up a tough fight against the BJP in Tripura.

Senior Congress leaders including former minister Sudip Roy Barman, former MLAs Ashish Kumar Saha and Gopal Chandra Roy, among others, participated in the worker joining program held on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Late Sachindra Lal Singh, the first chief minister of Tripura, at Rajiv Bhawan in Agartala.

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