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Bengal BJP faces backlash over former Trinamool leaders’ induction
The BJP won 207 of West Bengal’s 293 Assembly seats in the 2026 election, but its expansion has exposed internal tensions. Days after the victory, State president Samik Bhattacharya said the party’s…
The Story in Brief
The BJP won 207 of West Bengal’s 293 Assembly seats in the 2026 election, but its expansion has exposed internal tensions. Days after the victory, State president Samik Bhattacharya said the party’s doors were closed to Trinamool Congress leaders and ruled out its “Trinamoolification”. On July 9, he welcomed former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik into the BJP. The party later announced their renomination to the Upper House with BJP legislators’ support.
The Hindu reports that the decision angered BJP workers, with Bhattacharya describing shoe-garland protests against him. Former BJP president Dilip Ghosh defended the inductions, pointing to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s earlier defection from the TMC. The report says 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs joined the NCPI and NDA, while 65 of its 80 elected MLAs backed Ritabrata Banerjee as Opposition leader.
The Indian Opinion
The lazy narrative is that every TMC defector is either automatically corrupt or automatically cleansed by joining the BJP. The sharper issue is consistency. Leaders who once attacked the BJP are now being rewarded with tickets, while workers who built the party feel displaced. Calling this an exception does not settle that complaint. The test is whether these entrants win genuine support and whether the BJP’s promised standards apply equally to them. The next Rajya Sabha vote and the party’s conduct in government will provide evidence.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
