Trinamool general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday claimed two BJP lawmakers from West Midnapore were in touch with him and wanted to join his party.
“I am not taking any names. How many MLAs does the BJP have from here? Two. Both of them wanted to join the Trinamool. Respecting your wishes, I have kept the doors closed on them,” Abhishek said in a public meeting in Midnapore on Friday afternoon.
“You are aware Ajit Maity [the Trinamool district president and Pingla MLA] came with Hiran to my office. I did not allow him.”
The BJP has two MLAs from West Midnapore district, actor-politician Hiranmay Chattopadhyay – also known as Hiran – from Kharagpur and Sital Kapat in Ghatal.
“The residents of this region who have been around for over 40 years are aware of the kind of atrocities that Sital Kapat has committed,” Abhishek said. “The doors of the Trinamool are forever closed for such people.”
From Abhishek’s comments it wasn’t clear if the BJP MLAs had made any fresh overtures to switch to the ruling side ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
Hiran did not respond to calls from The Telegraph Online.
The BJP MLA from Asansol North and one of the vice-presidents in the party Agnimitra Paul said, “He (Abhishek) is making tall claims. The situation is the other way round. Many from the Trinamool are in contact with us and want to join the BJP before the elections. They have also realised the BJP is going to form the government here.”
Like most film personalities in Calcutta Hiran too was close to the ruling party in the state and even attended events though he was never officially a part of it.
Three years ago, Hiran had denied meeting Abhishek at the Trinamool leader’s Camac street office.
A year later, in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Hiran had clarified he went to meet Abhishek with permission from leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari but denied that he had gone to join the Trinamool.
To Abhishek’s threat to release footage of CCTV cameras taken during the meeting in his office, Hiran had claimed he also had kept records of the number of times the Trinamool’s No. 2 had called him and for what purpose.
In 2024, the BJP had fielded Hiran from Ghatal against another Bengali film industry personality, Dev. Dev won by a margin of 1,82,868 votes.
“This time Trinamool must win Kharagpur. I am promising Kharagpur will be my responsibility. You gave the BJP a chance but that did not bring anything for you,” said Abhishek in Friday’s speech.