Team News Riveting
Kolkata, September 19
Former Union Minister Babul Supriyo quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and defecting to Trinamool Congress (TMC) had not come as a jolt to the saffron camp in West Bengal.
The political experts felt that it would in return help it and send a message among the cadre that “bargaining” had no place in BJP. The singer-turned-politician tried to make a hard negotiation with the BJP leadership and when failed, crossed over to the TMC.
Even the common BJP workers would welcome his departure. Then union minister, Supriyo reportedly did not come to the “rescue” of BJP workers when the TMC supporters attacked soon after forming the government. Supriyo’s “reluctance to stand by party workers under attack” reached the Delhi leadership that cost him his ministerial berth.
After he was dropped from the cabinet, Supriyo tried to bargain with the central leadership instead of committing to work for the organisation as others vowed. The pressure hectic was so cunning that he called Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and said he wanted to meet him to tender his resignation as an MP. When the matter came to the notice of Amit Shah, he made it clear that Babul was free to resign. When the Speaker’s office contacted him to know when he would come to tender his resignation, he tried to escape.
A BJP MP since 2014, Supriyo had failed to create an identity for himself among the BJP workers and hence his exit would not have much impact as Party State President Dilip Ghosh had accused him of not taking interest in the organisational matters. “A celebrity quitting will make headlines and embarrass the party but in the longer run, we will gain,” said a senior BJP leader.
The challenge for Supriyo is to retain the sprawling residence in Lutyens Delhi. Literally, the BJP disappointed him.
