Mamata Banerjee fails to stop MLAs' exodus, Trinamool's Arjun Singh joins BJP

This election season, Trinamool Congress is witnessing a mass exodus. After Anupam Hazra, another Trinamool Congress leader Arjun Singh joined BJP in Delhi today. A prominent Hindi belt leader in West Bengal, Singh’s entry in BJP can translate into big victory in Mamata Banerjee’s home turf. Before this, Anupam Hazra joined the BJP yesterday. The expelled Trinamool Congress MP had joined the BJP in New Delhi. Hazra, the MP from Birbhum, was suspended by Trinamool Congress in January. “Time and again Anupam Hazra has done activities that don't match with the ideologies of the party. We have suspended him,” Trinamool Secretary-General Partha Chatterjee had said that at time. Interestingly, on January 9, the day Hazra was suspended, another Trinamool leader Saumitra Khan had joined the BJP. Khan is MP from Bishnupur in Bankura district. As soon as Khan joined BJP, speculations were rife that Hazra will follow the suit soon.

Hazra had refuted the allegations and said that, “I have neither been named in Saradha or Narada scams and neither have I raised money taking Mamata’s name or using my position. My only offence was my posts which the party found offensive and last year itself I had got rid of my Facebook profile.” Last month, Mamata Banerjee’s confidant-turned-political rival Mukul Roy had predicted that at least five more MPs from the Trinamool will join BJP soon.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee is likely to announce the candidates' list of her party for the Lok Sabha polls today. "We will release our candidates' list tomorrow," Banerjee told reporters at state secretariat 'Nabanna' on Monday.

Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will begin on April 11 and polling would be held over seven phases through May 19, the Election Commission announced on Sunday. The Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress will vie for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

As per the News Nation poll survey in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (AITC) is projected to get 29 seats whereas the BJP and the Congress are likely to bag 9 and 2 seats respectively. Left Front may get 2 seats in Lok Sabha Elections 2019. As far as the vote share is concerned, the survey shows that the Trinamool Congress is likely to get 36 per cent votes, followed by the BJP (23%), Left Front (23%), and the Congress (10%).