38 Trinamool Congress MLAs have started contacting BJP: Mithun

Kolkata, July 27

As many as 38 legislators of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress have started contacting state BJP leadership again, megastar-turned-politician and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty claimed here on Wednesday.

Arriving here on Wednesday morning, he had a meeting with top state BJP leaders and then made the revelation at an interaction with media persons at the state BJP headquarters.

"As many as 38 MLAs of Trinamool Congress have started contacting the BJP leadership in the state again. Out of that 38 MLAs, 21 are directly in touch with me," Chakraborty claimed.

However, despite repeated requests, he refused to divulge the names of these ruling party legislators. However, at the same time, Chakraborty admitted that there are possibilities that some of the BJP's own elected representatives might also shift camp to the Trinamool.

"We had only three representatives in the West Bengal Assembly after the 2016 elections. In the 2021 Assembly elections, we increased the tally to 77 and now we are 70. My appeal to those who want to join Trinamool Congress to do that right now. They are welcome to do that. Once they do that, we will have a clear idea on where we stand and accordingly, we can set up our new team," Chakraborty said.

Reacting to Chakraborty's comments, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Santanu Sen said that probably he "was suffering from some sort of mental illusion which prompted him to make such absurd claims". "Rather if Trinamool Congress opens its doors, then BJP will be totally non-existent in West Bengal," said Sen.

Meanwhile, commenting on the recent arrest of the state Commerce and Industries Minister, Partha Chatterjee by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam, Chakraborty said that if someone is not guilty, he should relax and will surely come out clean at the end of the investigation. "But if anyone his guilty, he will have to face the consequences," he said.