Chandan Mitra played down the suggestion that he quit because he was sidelined by the BJP.
Highlights
- Chandan Mitra quit BJP last week and joined Trinamool Congress
- Mr Mitra has been a critic of Trinamool and Mamata Banerjee in the past
- Trinamool is the available vehicle to do service to (Bengal): Mr Mitra
Editor-politician Chandan Mitra, who quit the BJP last week and joined Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress - a party he had once blamed for letting loose a "reign of terror" in Bengal , told NDTV that he made the choice to work for the "betterment" of the state.
"I think everybody has the right to change one's views, depending on circumstances," he said.
"There was only one purpose. I realized over the last years that if one has to continue to work for the development and prosperity of Bengal, then you have to choose the appropriate political way. I thought the Trinamool is the available vehicle to do service to (Bengal). And that's why, after considerable thought, I decided I will join (Mamata Banerjee)," Mr Mitra told NDTV.
He played down the suggestion that he quit because he was sidelined by the BJP. "BJP has given me a lot. They have made me a Rajya Sabha member twice. I have held important positions. I have no grievances that way. I'm not disgruntled," he said.
Mr Mitra has been a vocal critic of the Trinamool and Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal, in the past.
In 2014, he had referred to Trinamool workers as "worse than savages," and "hooligans," and the regime as a "reign of terror", in a series of tweets.
In an article written for NDTV in July 2017, he had said that Mamata Banerjee's appeasement policies had "emboldened hardcore elements among them to push the envelope further."
On Monday, he however, said that he had only been echoing the BJP's line as a leader of the party, and it would be "unfair" to hold that against him now. "After considerable thought, I have changed my position," he said.