Six Tripura MLAs, sacked by TMC for defying party and voting for Ram Nath Kovind, join BJP

Six TMC MLAs from Tripura have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, as per reports in news agency ANI. The report said Sudip Roy Barman, Ashish KR Saha, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, Biswa Bandhu Sen, Pranjit Singh Roy and Dilip Sarkar have quit the All India Trinamool Congress party, to join the BJP.

TMC MLAs from Tripura Sudip Roy Barman, Ashish Kr Saha, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, Biswa Bandhu Sen, Pranjit Singh Roy & Dilip Sarkar join BJP

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2017

[caption id=“attachment_3707543” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] According to Hindustan Times, the rebel leaders had originally crossed over from Congress in June last year. They were axed by TMC for so-called “anti-party activities”, after they voted for NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind . As reported on 3 August, they were set to  formally join  the saffron party on Monday. The sacked MLAs said their reason for choosing to vote for Kovind was because they didn’t want to vote for a candidate supported by the CPM. TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said that the MLAs’ stance didn’t reflect the party’s official point of view. “The stand taken by six MLAs is in no way the stand of our party. We have extended our support to Congress candidate Meira Kumar. From now on, we will have no relation with these MLAs. They don’t belong to our party,” he told reporters on 3 July. The sacked leaders met BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi on 5 August to initiate their entry into the BJP. The move comes ahead of Assembly polls due in the state next year, where the BJP is now slated to be the main opposition party. According to PTI, the MLAs joined in a public meeting on Monday in the presence of party general secretary Ram Madhab, convener of North East Democratic Alliance and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, state party president Biplab Deb, and party’s Tripura observer Sunil Deodhar.

Attending the party meeting on the occasion of all 6 Trinamool Congress #TMC MLAs from #Tripura joining BJP pic.twitter.com/oBQhfxHyOI

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) August 7, 2017

6 TMC MLAs join BJP in Tripura wid 1000s of workers n d presence of Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Himanta Biswa Sarma n others pic.twitter.com/SxkjddC7h2

— Ram Madhav (@rammadhav_) August 7, 2017

All 6 MLA'S of TMC Tripura joined @BJP4Tripura in presence of @dpradhanbjp Ji and @himantabiswa Ji. pic.twitter.com/xhDr0oLJAB

— Sunil Deodhar (@Sunil_Deodhar) August 7, 2017

The Hindustan Times report added that a rally will be held at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhawan in Agartala to unveil the new party leaders.