Diamond Harbour MLA Dipak Haldar on Tuesday, 2 February, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a public meeting in Baruipur, West Bengal, a day after he quit the Trinamool Congress (TMC), PTI reported.
His resignation had come a day ahead of a mega rally that was held in the district by BJP’s newly-inducted leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Haldar had tendered his resignation by speed post to the TMC state headquarters at Topsia.
Haldar was known to be a close associate of rebel TMC leader and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chattopadhyay, who also defected to the BJP. The two-time Trinamool lawmaker is from Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee's Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency.
His resignation from the party is seen to be a significant move ahead of the forthcoming state Assembly polls, as the BJP is trying to make a dent into Abhishek's vote bank.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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