BJP’s MLA from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district, Krishna Kalyani, finally announced his resignation from the saffron party today.
According to party leaders, for the past over one month, Mr Kalyani had no contact with district BJP leaders, including the BJP MP of Raiganj and former union minister of state for child & women development department, Debasree Chaudhuri. BJP leaders have alleged that he was involved in antiparty activities and making statements against the state and district BJP leaders.
On 29 September, the state BJP committee reported issued a showcause notice to him. Trinamul Congress leaders, on the other hand, today said that Mr Kalyani may soon join the ruling party. He may join the TMC soon, but not all TMC leaders want him in the party fold, as there are allegations against him about misappropriation of government funds before the Assembly elections,” a TMC source said.
Speaking to media persons in his office today, Mr Kalyani did not say if he will join the TMC. “The BJP MP from Raiganj is hatching a conspiracy against me. So it is not possible for me to stay with her in the same party. As such I left the BJP. I have to wait for a while to decide whether I will join another party or not,” Mr Kalyani said.
On the other hand, MP, Miss Chaudhuri, said Mr Kalyani had been making lame excuses to leave the party. “For the past around a month, he has been engaged in antiparty work. As such he was show-caused by the party,” she said.
According to some BJP members in the district, before the Assembly elections, BJP members were averse to making Mr Kalyani as the BJP candidate for the elections in Raiganj. However, he managed to get the party ticket to contest the election and win it with the “influence” of Miss Chaudhury.
“Krishna Kalyani is an industrialist after all. We have come to know that he is planning to leave the BJP and join the ruling party for his vested personal interests. He had been harming our party. As such, in his absence, our organization here will be stronger,” the secretary of the North Dinajpur BJP committee, Pradip Sarkar, said.
According to a source, a section of TMC leaders are, however, against welcoming Mr Kalyani in the party. “Krishna Kalyani has not met us yet. If he applies to be our member, his prayer will be reviewed in the district .Then it will be sent to the state committee,” the President of the North Dinajpur TMC committee, Kanaiyalal Agarwal, said.
Meanwhile, the state president of the BJP, Sukanta Majumder, said Mr Kalyani, as an MLA, should have been more responsible. “He was continuously making remarks against party leaders, including the MP of Raiganj. He was show-caused, but he did not respond. Today, I came to know that he has left our party. We have nothing to do and say if he has decided to quit,” Mr Majumdar said.