Shankar Ghosh, a prominent face of the CPM in Siliguri, joined the BJP here on Friday.

A couple of days back, Ghosh had resigned from the party and also from the board of administrators of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC).

Ghosh, a former member of the mayor-in-council at the civic body and a district secretariat member of CPM’s Darjeeling district committee, was also known to be a confidant of Siliguri MLA and veteran CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya.

At an event hosted by the BJP here, Ghosh was inducted into the party by BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in the presence of Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, among others.

“I was was cornered in the CPM for the past couple of years,” said the CPM turncoat who is in his mid-40s. “Some party leaders did not allow the younger generation to work and speak.

This made me quit the party and join the BJP. I intend to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Ghosh, in his mid-40s now and associated with the Left Front’s student wing SFI since his college days, said.

Asked on the defection, Asok Bhattacharya said: “It is a closed chapter.”

Sources in the CPM said the party has not faced such an act by any of its leaders recently. “He was associated with the CPM for some 30 years...it is unexpected on his part to join the BJP that functions with a completely different ideology,” said a CPM leader.

A party insider said Ghosh’s decision drew flak from Netizens across north Bengal, many saying he “surrendered his ideology”. However, it raised some uncomfortable questions within the CPM. “Many have asked if some senior CPM leaders here want to develop a second line of leadership by bringing in young faces.”