Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who left the BJP for Trinamul in 2022, on Monday regretted his decision to join Mamata Banerjee’s party after his name did not feature among the 42 party candidates that Trinamul leader Abhishek Banerjee announced at the Brigade rally on Sunday.

“There was some mistake from my side (defecting to Trinamul). Although the party assured me that I’d give a ticket (for the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat), I was finally denied it,” Singh told the reporters at his Jagatdal residence on Monday.

Trinamul fielded irrigation minister and Naihati MLA Partha Bhowmick
from Barrackpore.

Singh, who was at the Brigade rally, said he came to know he wouldn’t get a party ticket two hours before the list was made public. “I was initially shocked. Now, I am quite relaxed. Now, the party has to think whether victory in the election will be possible without me,” the Barrackpore MP said without making it clear if he would contest the election on a BJP ticket if offered.

Singh’s followers, however, started hitting the streets from Sunday evening, demanding Trinamul reconsider the list.

Trinamul, however, is trying to retain Singh so that he did not jump ship to the BJP.

A Trinamul source said many aspirants like actor-turned-politician Sayantika Bandyopadhyay were hurt at not getting the ticket.