Kurseong BJP MLA Defects to TMC

Kolkata: Ahead of the Assembly Election in West Bengal, Bishnu Prasad Sharma has defected to Trinamul Congress and accused his previous party of deceiving the Gorkhas in the hills in the name of permanent political solution.

Mr Sharma was welcomed to TMC by state ministers Bratya Basu and Shashi Panja in the city. He came to the ruling party’s notice after making an outburst against the BJP at the end of the budget session in the state Assembly recently.

Mr Sharma may contest the upcoming polls on a TMC ticket from the hills, according to sources. He alleged, “Funds for development came from neither the party I was in nor the Centre. Still development work did not stop here. I developed a guilt feeling about it.”

The Kurseong MLA claimed, “The day the last Assembly concluded, I declared myself a free bird. The Gorkhas have been in the dark for the last 17 years. BJP has been showing them a torchlight calling it a sun in which a permanent political solution is written.”

He added, “I stuck to them for five years and did not talk about it outside the party. Why didn't they like my words? The reason is they are lying to the Gorkhas. Trusting BJP we could neither bring developments in the hills nor fulfill our promises to our community. Except exploitation, BJP will not give even a thread to the Gorkhas.”