Anti-Modi activist Saket Gokhale joins TMC

Gokhale joined the party in presence of senior leaders Yashwant Sinha, Saugata Roy and Derek O'Brien.

Thanking TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and top leader Abhishek Banerjee, Gokhale said, "For the last seven years, my crusade and fight have always been against the Narendra Modi government, what they have done with the institutions, democracy and the level of discourse to which they have taken us into."

When asked why he joined the TMC and not any other Maharashtrian party, Gokhale, who is from Maharashtra, said, "The Trinamool Congress is the second largest opposition party in Parliament. I have spent more time in Delhi.

"My work has mostly been on national issues and less about issues at the state level in Maharashtra. Therefore, Trinamool Congress was the obvious choice."

On choosing TMC over the largest national opposition party Congress, he said, "I have been a supporter of the Congress. When we talk about the united Opposition, there are ideological matches and overlaps on a lot of fronts. Today if we see all the national parties, All India Trinamool Congress takes a very aggressive stand. I am personally very blunt. So I find myself home with the culture of AITC.

"I joined also because of the way West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is fighting on the frontfoot, (her party is) leading the protests in Parliament and speaking as a party in one voice."