New Delhi, March 13 -- With the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee remarking on Monday that Arjun Singh is still a BJP MP; Singh, who is irked for not being given a ticket, has now announced that he would fight against the TMC candidate from Barrackpore Lok Sabha candidate without revealing from which party.
Ever since the TMC announced that it is fielding its state's cabinet minister Partha Bhowmick from the Barrackpore constituency, Arjun Singh has been lashing out at the party, claiming he was "betrayed". Singh alleged that TMC had promised him a ticket from this constituency when he had switched back from BJP. The party, however, is learnt to have assured him of a poll ticket from another constituency but Singh denied and remained unmoved from his decision to contest from Barrackpore.
On Wednesday, Singh, who had recently removed the photos of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee from his party office, declared that he will contest against the Partha Bhowmick but did not reveal from which party even as sources said that he is likely to once again contest on a BJP ticket. Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, told the media that Singh is still a BJP MP and it is his decision from where and against whom he will contest. She said that Bhowmick, who is a Cabinet minister, is popular among people and that she is certain that people in the Barrackpore seat will vote for him. Banerjee also clarified that not all decisions regarding candidates are taken by her but by a specific team which decides based on merits. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Singh was denied a ticket by TMC from this constituency, he joined the BJP and defeated Trinamool candidate Dinesh Trivedi from Barrackpore constituency. In 2022, he returned to TMC. This time too, Singh is likely to join the BJP, sources said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.