Trinamool Congress leader Babul Supriyo took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday and claimed that five more leaders may quit the saffron party in West Bengal.
Babul Supriyo, who joined TMC three months back, tweeted (in Bengali), "One wicket after another is falling in BJP. Five more gone today. Shiv Babu (national General Secretary Shiv Prakash who had overseen BJP campaign before assembly polls) must have gone to Mount Kailash by now (euphuism for retirement). If you want to find Bengali crabs who will pull you from behind go to Muralidhar lane (the address of the state BJP)."
The five West Bengal MLAs — Mukutmoni Adhikari (Ranaghat South), Subrata Thakur (Gaighata), Ambica Roy (Kalyani), Asok Kirtania (Bongaon North), and Asim Sarkar (Haringhata) — had allegedly left the WhatsApp group disgruntled over being left out of various committees formed by the BJP state party unit on Saturday.
However, Ambica Roy later expressed his desire to rejoin the WhatsApp group, stating he had made a mistake and wished to "remain a loyal soldier of BJP."
Notably, the five MLA are from the Matua community, which constitutes a large chunk of the state's Scheduled Caste population.
Meanwhile, BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar said, "None of the five MLAs will be left out. We will accommodate them in new committees. They have to be a little more patient."
Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Bala Thakur, who is also associated with the All India Matua Mahasangha (AIMM), called on Subrata Thakur, who is among the five MLAs who allegedly left the WhatsApp group, to join the Trinamool Congress.
Hitting out at the BJP, the Matua community leader said, "The BJP has not done anything for the Matuas till date. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself came to Thakurnagar, in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, but there was no development for the community. All the Matuas will admit it. Only Mamata Banerjee has worked for the Matuas. The Matuas have been misunderstood by the BJP and they realised. So they want to return to the TMC now. They want to be involved in TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's development."
(With inputs from agencies)