April 24, 2024 22:02 (IST)
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TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi set to join BJP?
Kolkata, Jan 20 (IBNS): Days after Manjul Krishna Thakur, Minister of State for Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), another Trinamool Congress leader and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi is now expected to make a similar move, media reports said on Tuesday.
According to reports, he has been in touch with BJP President Amit Shah and senior party leader Sidharth Nath Singh for the last few weeks.
Trivedi has, however, not confirmed or denied the rumours yet.
The speculations gained fillip after Trivedi on Tuesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi while saying Mamata Banerjee has to shed her 'ego' and 'arrogance.'
Trivedi, who was a founding member of the Trinamool 16 years ago, told NDTV, "I won't predict anything but I want to change the DNA of Indian politics - and for that, I will do whatever it takes."
Elected from West Bengal's Barrackpore Parliamentary constituency, Trivedi was the Railways Minister in the coalition government headed by Manmohan Singh when he was asked to step down by his party chief Mamata Banerjee for increasing train fares.
Asked to compare Banerjee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trivedi said: "It is not fair to compare. Mamata, individually, is a very nice person. But we have to shed egos in politics. In politics, we should have dignity, self-respect but not arrogance or ego."
Trivedi said he has been friends with the PM since 1990. "Democracy is not being subservient. I can always tell Modi if he goes wrong. The sting lay in the tail. With Mamata, it is difficult," he said.
Last week, Trivedi was seen at an event in Gujarat with Prime Minister Modi's older brother, Somabhai Modi. In an interview to a local daily, he described the PM as a leader with exceptional vision.
His significant comments came at a time when the ruling Trinamool Congress was getting mired in the Saradha chit fund scam with the CBI investigation reaching at its door step to put behind bars an important Minister and two TMC Rajya Sabha members. Mukul Roy, the party's second-in-command has also received CBI summons giving rise to 'who's the next' speculations.
Suspended TMC MP Kunal Ghosh, who is now in jail, has alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the largest beneficiary of the scam. Asif Khan, a former party leader has also made similar allegation while claiming that many more leaders were involved in the scam that left lakhs of depositors fleeced in Bengal, Jhakhand and Assam.
Amid the doldrums, Manjul Krishna Thakur, a Minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, joined the BJP last last week as the BJP, working to get a stronger foothold in the newly found shore of Bengal, has claimed that more leaders of the ruling party were waiting to join it very soon.
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