Mihir Goswami quit the Trinamool Congress earlier today.
On a day the Trinamool Congress lost one of its most senior ministers Suvendu Adhikari who sent in his resignation letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but has not yet resigned as MLA, a prominent Trinamool MLA from north Bengal, Mihir Goswami, quit the party and joined the BJP.
The joining took place at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Friday. The party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya handed over the BJP flag to Mr Goswami in the presence of MPs Arjun Singh and Nisith Pramanik.
Mr Goswami said he hoped to bring development in north Bengal which, he felt, has remained neglected.
Mr Goswami was with the Trinamool since its inception. On October 31, he resigned from all posts he held and expressed his dissatisfaction with the influence of poll strategist Prashant Kishore and his outfit IPAC on the Trinamool Congress.
"Do I have to learn politics from a corporate body," Mr Goswami had asked. "Is the Trinamool the party of Mamata Banerjee any more?" he had added.
On Friday, he said he waited for weeks to hear from Mamata Banerjee after he quit party posts. But since she had not reached out, he was compelled to quit.
"I was humiliated time and again. Despite informing the party about it, it did nothing to address my woes. It seems the leadership has lost control over the party. It was not possible for me to continue with this humiliation. So, I resigned from the primary membership of the party," Mr Goswami, who had left for New Delhi with BJP MP Nisith Pramanik in the morning, said.
The political shakeup in north Bengal is hugely significant. The BJP had raked in most of its 18 MPs from north Bengal in 2019. Earlier the domain of the Congress, the Trinamool's hold has been traditionally weak in north Bengal. Infighting is a huge problem. Mihir Goswami's exit is likely to hurt Trinamool even more.