Suman Kanjilal, the BJP MLA of Alipurduar district, joined the Trinamul Congress on Sunday.

In north Bengal, he is the third MLA of the saffron camp to defect to Trinamul. After his defection, the number of BJP legislators in the Assembly has come down to 69.

In the 2021 polls, the BJP had won 77 seats, which include 30 in north Bengal.

Kanjilal went to the office of Trinamul’s all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Calcutta on Sunday. He was accompanied by a number of Trinamul leaders of Alipurduar district.

“Rejecting the anti-people policies and hate-laden agenda of BJP, Suman Kanjilal joined the AITC family today, in the presence of our national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Yet another BJP MLA realizes the truth that BJP has no intention to serve people,” a tweet posted on the official twitter handle of Trinamul.

Kanjilal, when asked abouthis decision, dodged a directreply. “I believe we should work together for peoples’ development. I communicated with the chief minister about certain issues of my area and got a positive response. On the other hand, I could not find our local MP (John Barla, who is also the Union minister of state for minority affairs) to stand in support of people.”

Political observers said his defection is significant for Trinamul, especially because other than Darjeeling and Kalimpong, Alipurduar was the only district where Trinamul couldn’t win a single MLA seat in 2021.

“By getting Suman Kanjilal on board, Trinamul has managed to dent the saffron camp’s base to some extent,” said an observer.

Last month, Abhishek said in a public meeting that a number of BJP leaders and elected representatives were ready to join Trinamul.

Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, was critical of Trinamul and said he will visit Alipurduar soon to tell people how the MLA has duped them.

Adhikari also raised questions as to why no party flag was handed over to Kanjilal at his joining.

“Because, inside Vidhan Sabha, as in the case of Mukul Roy, TMC Owner labeled him as BJP. Suman Kanjilal would also claim that he belongs to the BJP Legislative Party(sic),” he tweeted.

Kunal Ghosh, the state general secretary of Trinamul, referred to Adhikari’s brother and father on the issue of the anti-defection law. “Accept the fact that MLAs of BJP have no trust on BJP and LOP,” tweeted Ghosh.