Kolkata, Sep 1 (PTI) The West Bengal BJP on Wednesday threatened legal action against its two MLAs who had joined the TMC earlier this week if they do not resign from the assembly within seven days.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, asserted that the party's legislators remain united.
BJP MLA from Bagda, Biswajit Das, switched over to the TMC on Tuesday, while another saffron camp legislator, Tanmoy Ghosh, did so on Monday.
"Despite winning 213 seats, the TMC is poaching opposition MLAs. Recently, two legislators had defected to the ruling party. For the last four months, both the MLAs have not kept any contact with the BJP and were absent from all party programmes and meetings. Now, they have joined the TMC for their gains," Adhikari told reporters.
He claimed the TMC has violated the anti-defection law as the leader of the ruling party in the assembly, Partha Chatterjee, himself included Das.
"We have sent letters to both the MLAs and asked them to clarify their stand. Otherwise, we take action as per law. The TMC should not confuse us with previous opposition parties. This is BJP, and we won't bow to them," he said.
Besides Adhikari, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, party spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya and its MLAs from south Bengal were present at the press conference here.
The party MLAs of North Bengal were present at another meeting held in Siliguri.
"If the TMC thinks they will not allow implementation of the anti-defection law, they are wrong," Adhikari said.
Das, a two-time legislator from the TMC, had switched over to the saffron camp in 2019. He won from Bagda on a BJP ticket in the 2021 assembly polls.
Ghosh, who had joined the BJP just ahead of the state elections, returned to the TMC.
Earlier in June, BJP MLA and party's national vice-president Mukul Roy rejoined the TMC, four years after he left the Mamata Banerjee-led party to join the saffron camp.
The BJP won 77 of the 292 seats of the West Bengal assembly that were up for polls. The Trinamool Congress won 213 assembly constituencies, while the ISF and the GJM bagged one seat each.
Bypolls are currently due in seven seats of the state.
All three turncoats -- Das, Roy and Ghosh -- continue to be BJP MLAs officially.
The BJP's state president, however, said one or two persons leaving the party won't have any impact on it.
"Some people had joined us before the elections, and now they are going back to the TMC. These leaders do not have nerves of steel to fight against the ruling party. As per the law, action will be taken against those elected leaders who are defecting," he said.
Mocking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that the state will again emerge as the number one destination for industries, the BJP said this is a "fake promise".
"Earlier, we have seen several business summits but there has hardly been any investment in the state in the last 10 years. We have heard many such false promises during the TMC rule," Bhattacharya said.
