Profile

Babul Supriyo TMC spokesperson: Supriyo, the former union minister, took to Twitter to thank the party supremo for giving him the new responsibility.

Though Supriyo, who quit his job as a central minister and the BJP, was elected on April 16, confusion prevailed over his oath-taking ceremony.

The BJP turncoat had joined the Trinamool in September after being snubbed by the BJP. He had said that his decision to quit the saffron party was prompted by politics of "hatred and divisiveness" practised by its members.

The TMC has fielded yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha in Asansol, which has a substantial Hindi-speaking population.

Babul Supriyo recently joined the Trinamool Congress back in September 2021. He did so weeks after he was dropped as a minister in a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP's West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar, however, said none of the five MLAs will be left out as the party will accommodate them in new committees.   

The TMC has already announced its decision to contest the Assembly elections in Goa.

Babul Supriyo had won the Lok Sabha elections from Asansol in 2019 on a BJP ticket. Supriyo quit the BJP in July this year and later joined the Trinamool Congress.

The move comes after Supriyo resigned from BJP and joined the TMC in September.

Sources in the Trinamool Congress indicated that Supriyo, who had written to Speaker Om Birla to complete his formalities of resignation as MP, has been given time on Tuesday at 11 a.m. However, there was no confirmation from Supriyo yet.  

Meanwhile, the BJP list of campaigners contains names of Union minister Smriti Irani, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, MP from Bihar Giriraj Singh as heavyweights from outside the state.

The Chief Minister spoke with the singer-turned-politician for more than half an hour.  

BJP leader Dasgupta claimed that Supriyo's decision of switching parties can lead to him "ending up damaging his own image". Babul Supriyo reverted that the ‘Rivals’ who joined BJP were embraced and were given top posts, but the ‘real’ BJP grass-root fighters were ignored.

However, senior BJP leader and the party's national secretary Rahul Sinha said, "This is a temporary shock and the BJP will surely get over it.

Supriyo also said that he will be meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

Supriyo had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the recent Union Cabinet reshuffle.

Days after kicking off a political storm over his announcement to quit politics, former union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo on Monday said he will continue to work as a member of parliament from Asansol.

A day after kicking off a political storm over his announcement to quit politics over Facebook, former Union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo on Sunday said he has met top leaders of the saffron party, but was yet to take a call on his next course of action.  

Interestingly, hours after posting his retirement plans on Facebook, the BJP leader deleted the part, 'won't join any party'

The Asansol MP's announcement came hours before a list of 43 new names in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet was made public.