BJP MLA Tapasi Mondal joins TMC, says she couldn’t accept its divisive politics

BJP MLA Tapasi Mondal joins TMC, says she couldn’t accept its divisive politics

BJP MLA Tapasi Mondal joins TMC, says she couldn’t accept its divisive politics ByHT Correspondent Mar 10, 2025 06:02 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Tapasi Mondal, who first won the Haldia seat on a CPM ticket in 2016, joined the BJP in December 2020 ahead of the West Bengal elections

KOLKATA: Tapasi Mondal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Haldia in East Midnapore district on Monday crossed over to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), saying she wanted to be part of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s developmental initiatives.

Haldia MLA Tapasi Mondal joined the TMC at its headquarters in Kolkata in the presence of state Power Minister Aroop Biswas.

Mondal, who won her first assembly election in 2016 when she was in the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and joined the BJP along with Suvendu Adhikari - now the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly at rally in Midnapore town addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah on December 19, 2020.

Mondal retained the Haldia seat, reserved for the scheduled caste (SC) community, in 2021 when she contested the state elections on a BJP ticket.

“I could not accept their divisive politics any longer,” she said at an event on Monday after receiving a TMC flag from Bengal minister Anoop Biswas.

“People have rejected it because Bengal is a progressive state. As people’s representatives, our only religion is welfare of the masses. That’s what Mamata Banerjee is doing,” Mondal said.

Shyamal Maity, a BJP leader from East Midnapore, also joined TMC at the party’s headquarters in Kolkata.

The BJP won 75 of the state’s 294 assembly seats in the 2021 assembly elections while TMC won 215. Several BJP legislators subsequently joined TMC without resigning from the party or the state assembly. The state is due to vote in the first half of 2026.

The last BJP MLA to switch camps was Harakali Protiher from Bankura district’s Katulpur constituency. Pratihar, who was previously in the TMC, announced his return to the party at an event in the presence of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in October 2023.

Asked about Monday’s development, Adhikari refused to comment on Mondal accusing the BJP of “divisive politics” but predicted her defeat in the 2026 elections. “We will defeat her by 50,000 votes no matter where she contests from. Several of them have left but that does not make any difference. Can they come to the assembly and say on record that they are TMC legislators?” Adhikari said.

The BJP won 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections but this number came down in the 2025 national elections to 16 Lok Sabha seats.