Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader John Barla (second from left) joined the Trinamool Congress in front of TMC Bhavan’s vice president Jaiprakash Majumdar, Party MP Subrata Bakshi and others. Image source: ANI
Former Union Minister and former BJP MP John Barla joined Trinamool Congress on Thursday. This is four months after he held an event with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Former Alipdur MP Mr. Bala joined the ruling party of West Bengal, attended by Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Barkshi and Governor Aroop Biswas in Kolkata.
After joining Trinamool, Mr. Barla trained guns on the BJP and accused the party of stopping development efforts in the state.
“If development work is stopped by the party, how can you operate? Why should I be part of a party that stops working for the people? Tea garden staff blessed the BJP, but what reward did they get?” he asked.
Mr. Barra also spoke about his interactions with the President of the Congress of Trinamool and said she asked him to work for the people. The former BJP leader accused opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari of stopping construction of a Rs 1,6 billion hospital in North Bangladesh.
BJP hinders public works
Mr. Barra is the leader of the Program Tribe at Tea Garden, representing Alipurduar Lok Sabha as a member of the BJP MP from 2019 to 2024.
In the 2024 poll, the BJP gave up on John Barla while Field Manoj Tigga won the BJP seat. Since the Lok Sabha poll, BJP leaders have begun hitting discord notes and deviating from the party. Mr. Bala, who was originally a tea garden staff, rose Adivasi Vikas Parishad. From July 2021 to June 2024, he also served as the Trade Union Minister of the Ministry of Ethnic Minority Affairs.
Alipurduar is considered a stronghold of the BJP, which won a large number of parliamentary seats in 2021. However, Trinamool Congress beat BJP in the seat of the Madarihat Conference in November 2024.
Several BJP MLAs from North Bangladesh and leaders from North Bangladesh joined the Trinamool Congress after the 2021 Lok Sabha poll.
publishing – May 16, 2025 09:55 AM IST
