The BJP in Cooch Behar inducted a number of local Trinamul leaders and supporters into the party on Sunday mounting pressure on their principal political contender ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Since Sunday morning, Trinamul supporters were seen walking into the district BJP office in groups and were handed over BJP flags by Malati Rava, the district BJP chief, Nisith Pramanik, the party’s candidate in the seat and other leaders. “In total, we could induct around 1,500 Trinamul leaders and supporters from across Cooch Behar in our party on Sunday. They are from different areas of the district, including the Natabari Assembly constituency,” claimed Rava.

Natabari is the Assembly seat of Rabindranath Ghosh, the district Trinamul president and north Bengal development minister.

Pramanik, who was a prominent youth Trinamul leader in Cooch Behar, was expelled from the party for being instrumental in fielding dissident party workers as independent candidates in different tiers at the panchayat polls held last year. Pramanik, who recently joined the BJP and was made a candidate, had hinted that many of his supporters and dissidents would follow him and defect to the BJP.

“There are several leaders and workers in Trinamul who want to join BJP. But if they make the move, they will be implicated in false cases and would be harassed and tortured. That is why I have asked them to go slow. They will take the right decision at the right time,” said Pramanik.

Trinamul leaders, however, sounded unperturbed. “The BJP does not have any support base in Cooch Behar. There are a handful of leaders who are making false claims ahead of the elections. We do not consider BJP as a contender here,” said Ghosh, the district Trinamul president.