In north Bengal, BJP faced a major setback. On Monday, Alipurduar district BJP president Ganga Prasad Sharma joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata in the presence of party leaders-Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Mukul Roy.

GP Sharma had said that he was changing parties as working for the people was becoming increasingly difficult for him in his current circumstances. In a press meet, Mukul Roy commented that BJP’s rise in West Bengal was from north Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, and its downfall will also begin from north Bengal. Roy noted that this is just a glimpse of what lies ahead for the BJP. 

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GP Sharma was accompanied by 7 other leaders who switched from BJP to TMC.

He said, “I did everything to ensure that the BJP wins the polls, and the party did bag five seats. But some of us are feeling suffocated in the party now, which is expanding in size without establishing links with grassroots workers.”

He further added, “I had to work hard to consolidate the party’s base in the district. I can no longer stay in a party where the district president is not given importance. I have left the BJP.”

He also said that the recent demand by “our local MP for a union territory status for north Bengal” has further pushed him to take the decision. Sharma said that a few other members of the party will also follow in his footsteps.

In response to GP Sharma’s comments, BJP MLA and opposition leader in Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari said, “Our organisation is strong in north Bengal. Ganga Prasad’s exit hardly matters.” He added, “We will create another Ganga Prasad. Individuals do not matter, BJP matters.”

In December last year, Adhikari had jumped boat into BJP after accusing TMC of lacking discipline. He had then vowed to bring the BJP to power in the state, which did not materialize.

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In the West Bengal election, the contest between TMC-supremo Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari was a personal, high-stakes and neck to neck fight.

Till the fourth round of vote counting, Banerjee was trailing behind her one-time aide Adhikari in Nandigram in East Midnapore district by a margin of 3,710 votes.

But, in the later rounds of vote counting, Mamata Banerjee had steadily picked up the pace. Adhikari and Banerjee were alternately leading each other by margins ranging from 6 to thousands.

Mamata won the West Bengal assembly election, but lost the seat of Nandigram by 1956 votes to Suvendu Adhikari.