Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who had quit the party on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on 12 February, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of party president JP Nadda and Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday, 6 March.
His former party, Trinamool Congress, reacted sharply to his move, calling him ‘ungrateful’ and accusing him of ‘backstabbing’ the party when it needed his services.
Calling it a “golden moment”, Trivedi said that he had been waiting to join the party. He also added that he will be active in the election process irrespective of whether he contests the elections.
“I’ll be active in the election process, irrespective of whether I contest or not. Bengal has rejected TMC. They want progress, not corruption or violence. They’re ready for real change. Politics isn’t ‘khela’, it’s serious. She (CM) forgot her ideals while playing.”Dinesh Trivedi
Trivedi also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
He had announced his resignation during a speech in the Upper House. Trivedi was the president of the Trinamool’s Hindi Cell and was inducted into the Rajya Sabha after losing the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal’s Barrackpore constituency to the BJP’s Arjun Singh.
While resigning, Trivedi had said that he felt “suffocated” and added that “we're not able to do anything about the violence in the state.”
Slamming Trivedi’s decision to quit the party and defect to BJP, TMC MP Sougata Roy said, “people like Dinesh Trivedi enjoy power during their tenure & leave a party at the time of elections.”
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh further labelled Trivedi as ‘ungrateful’ and accused him of betraying the people of the state.
“He held several posts in the party and was entrusted with many responsibilities. At a time when he should repay the Trinamool Congress, he has backstabbed it,” the TMC leader added.
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