Denied a ticket for the forthcoming parliamentary elections by the Trinamul Congress, Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas district, Arjun Singh, on Tuesday looked miffed with the top leadership.

He is believed to have removed the photos of his party leaders from his office.

The ruling Trinamul Congress today is said to have given Mr Singh a fresh offer in the form of a ministerial berth in the state. Sources said he may be offered a seat from the Baranagar Assembly constituency in a bypoll to fill the vacuum created by the exit of the party’s once seasoned war horse Tapas Roy to wean him away from crossing over to the BJP.

After quitting the Trinamul before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Singh had successfully contested the polls from Barrackpore on a BJP ticket. However, in 2022, he made a return to the state’s ruling party.

He is supposed to have placed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture carrying the latter’s signature. Singh claimed the picture was gifted to him by the Prime Minister himself.

Mr Singh told the news persons today that the city mayor and state minister for urban and municipal affairs Firhad Hakim had spoken to him by offering him a post but that would hardly make an impact on his decision making after the alleged back stabbing by the party on what he was once promised.

“I was not offered what I was promised,” he told news persons.

Mr Hakim, while speaking to news persons acknowledged the fact that he had indeed spoken to Mr Singh and placed a fresh offer on certain accommodation with the approval of the party to dissuade from leaving the party.

Singh also said that by not nominating him from Barrackpore, the Trinamul leadership has made it clear that he is not wanted in the party anymore.

“I did not have any special demand (from the party). I unnecessarily wasted 18 months by joining the Trinamul again,” Singh said.

Notably, Singh’s son Pawan Singh is a BJP legislator from Bhatpara, which is one of the seven seats under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency.

State irrigation minister Partha Bhowmik, who has been fielded by the Trinamul from Barrackpore this time, said that Singh will lose his credibility among the people of Barrackpore if he keeps changing his political affiliation frequently.

However, state BJP leaders remain non-committal as to whether Singh will be allowed a re-entry into the party.

“Any decision in this regard will be taken by our party high command in Delhi,” said the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.