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Bengali actress quits Trinamool to join BJP
Citing building mistrust in the
party due to the raging Saradha scam, West Bengal Women's Commission
member and actress Locket Chatterjee Thursday quit Trinamool Congress to
join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"The Saradha scam has put
the party (TMC) in a strange situationa there is an odd mistrust
prevailing within the party. Wherever I go, I have to hear about the
Saradha scam from people despite some of us not being involved",
Chatterjee told mediapersons at the state Bharatiya Janata Party
headquarters here.
"I feel perhaps nobody within the party (TMC) now trusts others," she said.
Chatterjee
said she wasn't able to work properly in the Trinamool fold and was
looking for a breather and a party which will provide her the platform
to work.
She said the crimes against women, the recent death of a
youth Arup Bhandari - fatally beaten up for protesting eve teasing in
Howrah district's Salkia - as also the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam
have shaken her confidence in the party.
"I could not protest
(against these situations) within the party - I tried but felt
protesting against the situation outside the party will be more
effective", she said.
She said she wants to work for the development of the state and welfare of its people.
Perceived
to be close to the Trinamool supremo and state chief minister Mamata
Banerjee who once aggressively brought local actors and intellectuals
within her party, Chatterjee's resignation is another blow to Bengal's
ruling outfit, already reeling under the ongoing CBI investigation where
several of its leaders have been either arrested or quizzed.
Chatterjee's
announcement of breaking ranks with the Trinamool came almost at the
same time when another party leader Srinjoy Bose announced his decision
to leave the party as also his Rajya Sabha membership saying politics
was not his cup of tea.
Earlier, state minister Manjul Krishna Thakur quit the cabient to cross over to the BJP.
Another
Bengali actress Rupa Ganguly, who played the role of Draupadi in the
1990s megaserial Mahabharata, also joined the BJP recently.