BJP MLA Hiran Chatterjee on Saturday trashed speculations about defecting to Trinamool Congress and said he doesn't want to be "with a party of thieves".

The actor-turned-politician better known as Hiran only told reporters that a purported picture of him with Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee being circulated in social media was morphed and he had last met Banerjee before joining BJP in early 2021.

"No honest person will hold the TMC flag any more. The party has been reduced to an organization of thieves, of corrupt people. I have no intention to join TMC," the Kharagpur Sadar BJP MLA said at the press meet.

Referring to speculation about his joining TMC and meeting Banerjee at his Camac Street office here, Chatterjee said "I had never gone to Abhishek Banerjee's office in recent times and the purported picture circulated in social media is morphed which can be easily done in this age of artificial intelligence."

Chatterjee further claimed many honest TMC leaders are now sending feelers to BJP for joining the saffron camp "disgruntled with the state of affairs in the ruling party in state. But we have kept our door half closed and will regulate and screen every possible entry. Whoever joins will have to follow BJP's ideology."

Chatterjee further informed he had "good relations" with Abhishek Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP of TMC in the past and he had accompanied Banerjee to many programmes and was in touch with him from 2014 to first month of 2021. But not afterwards."

TMC coordinator in Paschim Medinipur Ajit Maity said Hiran is "not speaking the truth." "He is a good example of making a 360 degree turn from his recent stand. He knows very well whether the picture he is talking about is fake or not. We don't need such double standard unprincipled politician in our party." Reacting to Chatterjee's claims, the TMC natíonal general secretary asked him to lodge a case if he thought his picture was morphed.

"Had my picture been morphed as claimed by Hiran I would have lodged a case against the possible perpetrators. What prevents Hiran from doing the same. Let him lodge a case," Banerjee told reporters on the sidelines of an administrative meeting in his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency.

"If he (Hiran) lodges a complaint then it will be followed by an investigation and truth will come out, If he was there or not (at Abhishek's office), he added.

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