John Barla Praises Mamata Banerjee, Hints at TMC Shift

Kolkata: Former union minister John Barla on Thursday met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at a public event in Alipurduar, a northern district of the state, and praised her welfare work, triggering speculation of his entry to Trinamul Congress from BJP.

The former Alipurduar MP, who has been vocal within BJP over poll debacles and organisational issues for the last one year, was seen speaking to the TMC supremo for a while on the dais.

Mr Barla later said, “The CM has been here for three days. She is undertaking a lot of development work in Dooars. She had invited me here. So I came. If she blesses me, I will definitely work with her. I want to serve the people but the BJP is not giving me a scope.”

In 2019, Mr Barla was elected as BJP MP from Alipuarduar in Lok Sabha polls by defeating TMC candidate Dasharat Tirkey over 2.5 lakh votes. He was later made union minister of state for minority affairs.

Five years later, BJP ignored him and made its MLA from Madarihat Manoj Tigga the Lok Sabha poll candidate from Alipurduar. Mr Tigga won. According to TMC insiders, Mr Barla helped their party to win the Madarihat assembly constituency by-poll in November.

BJP however sounded indifferent to Mr Barla’s tilt towards the TMC. Its Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya said, “Mr Barla is no factor. He was not a candidate in the last Lok Sabha polls. Still BJP won in Alipurduar. People have voted for the BJP.”