21 TMC MLAs in touch with me, but won’t take ‘rotten potatoes’ from Mamata’s party: Mithun Chakraborty

Bollywood Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mithun Chakraborty has reiterated that nearly 21 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs are in touch with him, but the saffron party will not take ‘rotten potatoes’ from Mamata Banerjee’s party.

Addressing a press conference, he said that he stood by what he had said in July that 38 legislators of TMC wanted to join the BJP and of them 21 are directly in contact with him.

“I have said before and I stand by what I had said earlier even today. Please wait for some time, you will see. There is an objection within the party to induct TMC leaders. Many leaders have said that we will not take rotten potatoes.” he said. He added that the number is actually much higher.

“There are many other TMC MLAs who are directly in contact with the central leadership in Delhi,” the BJP leader was quoted as saying by Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika.

Chakraborty further said not everyone associated with Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is a “thief”. “A section of those who are good in the TMC are in touch with the BJP,” he said.

Chakraborty denied talks of any monetary “give and take” policy between him and the TMC MLAs he is in touch with. He, however, said that many feel “choked inside” the TMC, according to a Hindustan Times report.

“Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are doing their job. This party (TMC) will not last for even six months, December is their deadline,” LoP Suvendu Adhikari had said recently.

Chakraborty was among the BJP’s star campaigners in the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal.

However, Chakarborty reportedly said that the central leadership of the party is reluctant to accept leaders from TMC, but he assured the top brass that “thieves and liars” would not be allowed to join the party.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, was seated beside Chakraborty, in the press conference.

The TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh hit back at the BJP leader and said, “He (Mithun Chakarborty) had joined the BJP to save himself from those matters.”

Mamata Banerjee and her party members hit out at the BJP for trying to oust opposition-ruled governments. The attacks intensified after the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime, comprising the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

The Bengal CM also accused the BJP of misusing central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to dethrone non-BJP ruled states. – INDIA NEWS STREAM