BJP MLA Krishna Kalyani joins TMC, fifth legislator to switch over
Kolkata, Oct 27: Raiganj's BJP MLA Krishna Kalyani joined the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday.
Kalyani is the fifth BJP legislator in West Bengal to join the TMC after winning the assembly elections earlier this year, in a major setback to the opposition party.
He is the former North Dinajpur district president of the TMC who joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections and was fielded from Raiganj.
Kalyan, who has been at odds for quite some time with former Union minister Debasree Choudhury over running the BJP's affairs in the North Dinajpur district, was welcomed to the TMC by its secretary-general and senior state minister Partha Chatterjee.
"No self-respecting person can work freely in the BJP," Kalyani told reporters at the TMC headquarters here.
He said he was also upset with the "anti-people policies" of the Centre, which has not taken a single step to check spiralling fuel prices.
"I was increasingly thinking that I cannot be a part of BJP anymore. If I had not spoken in favour of Mamata Banerjee's welfare policies before the assembly polls, I had made a mistake that I want to correct now," he said.
"If someone wants to do good work as an MLA he is not allowed to do that in the BJP," he alleged.
Reacting to the development, BJP state President Sukanta Majumder said Kalyani should explain that how he suddenly "woke up" to the policies of Mamata Banerjee.
"Kalyani will get a befitting reply from the people of Raiganj in the future," Majumder said, adding that he joined TMC to serve his personal interest.
Kalyani had quit the BJP earlier this month but did not resign as an MLA.
Earlier, BJP's Krishnanagar Uttar MLA Mukul Roy, Bishnupur MLA Tanmay Ghosh, Bagdah MLA Biswajit Das and Kaliaganj MLA Soumen Roy joined the TMC, besides Asansol MP Babul Supriyo.
The MLAs are yet to resign from the assembly or to be disqualified under the anti-defection law, while Supriyo has put in the papers.
BJP had won 77 seats in the assembly elections with two of the legislators -- Dinhata MLA Nisith Pramanik and Santipur MLA Jagannath Sarkar -- later resigning to retain their MP seats.
TMC had won 213 seats in the assembly elections in April-May and bagged the Samserganj and Janipur seats earlier this month, taking its tally to 215 in the 294-member House.
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2 men dragged for 300 metres by truck in Agra; locals save their lives
Agra, Dec 23: A truck driver dragged two people for about 300 metres in Agra under his vehicle, police on Monday said.
Some locals forced the driver to stop the truck and extricated the men from under the vehicle.
Police arrested the driver and seized the truck.
The two men, both residents of Nunhai in Agra, were going towards Rambagh from Waterworks when they met with an accident around 11 pm Sunday.
The driver, instead of stopping the truck sped up, trapping both of them underneath, police said.
"In the accident, two youths were dragged by a canter driver for about 300 metres. Later, some residents saved the youths by stopping the driver using force," Chhatta Police Station Inspector Pramod Kumar told PTI.
"The youths were sent for treatment at a nearby hospital and are still being treated, but are in stable condition. The youths were from Agra. The canter driver was arrested and the canter seized after the incident," he said.
A video of the incident that surfaced on social media showed the men shouting for help.
The video was purported to have been shot by a person passing by on a two-wheeler.
“पिछली पोस्ट में वीडियो में युवकों को मोटर साइकल सहित ट्रक वाला कई मीटर तक घसीटता हुआ ले जाता गया देखा था,
— Umashankar Singh उमाशंकर सिंह (@umashankarsingh) December 23, 2024
अब जनता द्वारा उस ट्रक ड्राइवर की ठुकाई पिटाई का समारोह देखिए।”#Agra@madanjournalist
pic.twitter.com/Qh5ncyWtEa
HORRIFYING!
— Sanjay Kishore (@saintkishore) December 23, 2024
In Agra, a truck driver dragged two men for 300 meters. Locals intervened, stopping the truck and saving the men. Both are stable but continue receiving treatment. The driver has been arrested and the truck seized.
pic.twitter.com/1ply5wemfX
