After the Maharashtra crisis led Uddhav Thackeray to quit as the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee had dared the BJP to do something similar in Bengal.
Kolkata: Tollywood actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty on Wednesday said 38 MLAs of Trinamool Congress are in touch with the saffron party. He added that of the 38, 21 are in direct contact with him. His comments came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of planning ‘Operation Lotus’ in the state to uproot her government.
Talking to the media in Kolkata, Chakraborty said, “Do you want to hear the breaking news? At this moment, as we are sitting here, 38 Trinamool Congress MLAs have very good ties with us, of which 21 are in direct (contact with me). I leave the rest to you to figure out.” When pressed to reveal more, he said, “Don’t ask me to release the trailer, enjoy the music.”
After the Maharashtra crisis led Uddhav Thackeray to quit as the Chief Minister, Banerjee had dared the BJP to do something similar in Bengal. She had said that she had heard West Bengal was next on the BJP’s list.
“Maharashtra has not been able to fight this time. They say after Maharashtra it will be Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bengal. Try coming here. You will have to cross the Bay of Bengal. The crocodiles will bite you. And in the Sunderbans the Royal Bengal tiger will bite you. In North Bengal the elephants will roll over you,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee has been accusing the BJP of trying to topple her government. In 2021, TMC had won a third term in West Bengal after fighting off the BJP, which had invested all its resources and its top leaders in the state election campaign.
Chakraborty had joined the saffron camp last year ahead of the election but failed to make enough impact with the electorate.
The TMC dismissed Chakraborty’s comments and said he is not in the right frame of mind. “Many have defected to the TMC and if the doors are kept open, then more BJP legislators will join our party. I don’t give any importance to such claims,” Trinamool MP Santanu Sen said.
