With elections approaching in several states, including Uttar Pradesh and Goa, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has a steady stream of leaders from rival parties joining its camp. This has come as a shot for the TMC, which is aiming to spread its foot in the nook and corner of the country after its resounding victory in the assembly elections held earlier this year.
Earlier this week, the party saw the entry of former JD(U) MP Pavan Varma along with Congress leaders Kirti Azad and Ashok Tanwar. Tanwar, once close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, was an MP from Sirsa in Haryana from 2009 to 2014. He had quit the Congress ahead of the October 2019 elections in the state. “The TMC family is complete. I have asked him (Tanwar) to start work and he will visit both Kolkata and Goa. He will also visit Haryana and visit the state,” Banerjee told reporters during his Delhi visit.
Cricketer-turned-politician Azad lost on Congress ticket Darbhanga Lok Sabha Constituencies in 2019. Upon joining TMC, he called BJPPolitics is “divisive”. Azad said, “Today there is a need of a personality like her (Mamata) in the country who can give the right direction to the country.”
Verma, who was expelled from JD(U) last year for speaking against the Bihar chief minister Nitish KumarSupport for the Citizenship Amendment Act, reaffirms the potential she saw in Mamata and joining the TMC, possibly paving the way for the party’s entry into Bihar. In the past, he was an advisor to Kumar and the JD(U) national general secretary and spokesperson.
In the northeast, Meghalaya churned out as former Congress chief minister Mukul Sangma and 11 other MLAs formally joined the TMC on Thursday. In Assam, Sushmita Dev switched from Congress to TMC. In October, former West Bengal minister Rajiv Banerjee and Tripura BJP MLA Ashish Das joined the Trinamool Congress in Tripura, where state elections are due in 2023. At the rally where the leaders joined the TMC, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee took oath. “Eliminate both the left and the right” in Tripura, currently ruled by the BJP. He said the TMC would not only win the civic polls to be held on November 25 but also in the assembly elections. This is TMC’s first attempt to contest civic polls outside West Bengal, in which the party has fielded 51 candidates, including 27 women.
TMC has also identified Goa as one of the key states to expand its footprint at the national level. The party relies on former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, who joined the party in September, to enter Goa. According to TMC sources, along with Faleiro, nine other leaders – Lavu Mamledar, Yatish Naik, Vijay Vasudev Poi, Mario Pinto de Santana, Anand Naik, Rabindranath Faleiro, Shivdas Sonu Naik, Rajendra Shivaji Kakodkar and Antonio Monteiro Clovis da Costa had joined them. . Team.
Another face of TMC in the state is tennis star Leander Paes who joined the party in October. TMC is contesting Goa elections for the first time, while the Congress said it would split the votes, strengthening the BJP’s prospects in the state. Actress and activist Nafisa Ali also joined Trinamool Congress on the same day.
Meanwhile, the Goa Forward Party (GFP) suffered a setback after its working president Kiran Kandolkar, who is second only to party chief Vijay Sardesai, joined the TMC hours after his resignation. Kandolkar was accompanied by 40 others, including sarpanches of five villages in North Goa’s Tivim and Aldona assembly constituencies.
When it comes to Uttar Pradesh, Mamta during her recent visit to Delhi said that she is ready to help Samajwadi Party chief akhilesh yadav if he wants Party’s help for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, This comes a month after two senior Congress leaders Rajeshpati Tripathi and Laliteshpati Tripathi from Uttar Pradesh joined the TMC in Siliguri in north Bengal. “People’s confidence in TMC is increasing. The joining of both the leaders testifies that we are now a pan-India party which can give a real fight to the BJP. PTI,
Rajeshpati Tripathi is a former member of the State Legislative Council (MLC) and Laliteshpati Tripathi is a former Vice President of UP Congress and a former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA). Being the grandson of former veteran Congress leader and former UP CM Kamalapati Tripathi, the legacy is on Laliteshpati’s side.
Mamata had said in July that a United Front was the need of the hour to fight the BJP. “We need to form a front and fight for a common cause. So please go and convince your leaders so that we can come together, leaving behind our narrow interests and differences, and fight unitedly against the BJP, only then we can save this country,” she said on a virtual martyr’s day. Said during the speech, reaching out to opposition leaders across the country.
TMC’s resounding victory in the April-May assembly elections in West Bengal has brought homecoming to many party dropouts and boosted confidence in the Mamata-led front as a credible opposition. In their statements after joining the TMC, Azad, Verma and Tanwar described a front led by Mamata as a credible opposition to take on the BJP. “I have been involved in student politics. Things have become such that the only leadership capable of leading this country is Mamata didi,” Tanwar said. Meanwhile, Verma said he has “no doubt that Trinamool will become a national alternative”.
Azad said he would be with the TMC for the rest of his political life. “He is a grassroots leader who has fought for the people. I have played for my country. I will work with the people to end the division they are creating in my country.”
Addressing journalists in Delhi this week, Mamata said she also plans to go to Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modito meet in the Lok Sabha constituency of Mumbai and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on December 1.
(with inputs from agencies)
,