Continuing with the trend of Congress leaders joining the ruling Trinamool Congress, secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and a Congress MLA from Murshidabad Mainul Haque would be formally joining the Congress on July 21 during the Martyrs' Day observation.
Talking to DNA, Haque said defecting to TMC had not been a happy decision. "The fight at the moment is between TMC and BJP. If I have to fight the BJP, I will have to join TMC because the Congress is waning in Bengal. The party has reduced to a small one and to add to it there is a lot of infighting. There is no coordination between the Leader of the Opposition (Abdul Mannan) and state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury," he said.
He also blamed the atrocities of TMC being another the reason. "I am unable to do any developmental work here in my constituency and I have been told that unless I join the ruling party it will not be possible as well," he said.
Haque had conducted a meeting of the party on Saturday evening to take a consensus within party leaders. "It was supposed to be a party workers' meet but it turned out to be a public meeting with about 12,000 people turning up for it. I have no complaints from Congress which has given me a lot. I am leaving the party with a heavy heart," he said.
Asked if he would give up his MLA post, he said he had intended to but has been asked to retain it by the TMC leadership till a final decision was taken about it.
The state Congress president described the move as a 'terror tactic by the TMC'. Talking to DNA, Chowdury said that Haque had met him a few days back and although he had not said anything about the poor coordination within the party he had complained about the pressure he was under from the TMC. "He has succumbed to the terror tactic by the TMC. He is a senior leader but has been subjected to a lot of threat by the ruling dispensation. The TMC is creating a Frankenstein which will be the cause of its destruction, Chowdhury said.
