In a major setback for Mamata Banerjee - Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman and Bhatpara MLA Arjun Singh has joined the BJP in presence of senior leaders including Kailash Vijayvargiya in New Delhi on Thursday.

Before joining the saffron brigade, Singh had a long meeting with BJP leader Mukul Roy in Delhi.

Addressing the media, Singh said, “I worked for the last 40 years under Mamata Banerjee ji. But, I was extremely disappointed when she questioned the credibility of the Indian Army after Balakot strike. When the entire country was speaking in one voice against Pakistan, she was questioning the intention of the Prime Minister. It was very unfortunate.”

“I personally feel that there is nothing called good and bad in politics. Rajniti (Politics) means ‘Samjhauta’ (compromise). People were angry with the sitting MP because of his disconnect with them. Therefore, I have expressed my desire to contest from Barrackpore. Today, I am happy to announce that I have joined the BJP,” Singh said.

Singh is an extremely popular leader in Bhatpara as well as in all the seven constituents of Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency. Banerjee has given the Barrackpore ticket to sitting MP Dinesh Trivedi. Singh had openly demanded the ticket from Banerjee for the Lok Sabha poll.

In Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, a sizable number of voters (nearly 56%) – who could be the decisive factor - are Hindi speaking and Singh holds the key in that.

Singh had worked hard at the ground level to mobilize Hindi speaking voters in favour of the TMC. The party secured most of the seats from Panchayat, Municipal to Parliamentary polls since 2009.

Not the least, he had actively worked hard for TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi in all the previous polls where Trivedi was the candidate. Singh has been the game changer for TMC but now with his switch to BJP, it will not be an easy task for Dinesh Trivedi to win the seat.

Party insider claimed that Singh has a very good relation (above party line) with all the MLAs of Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituents (Amdanga, Bijpur, Naihati, Bhatpara, Jagatdal, Noapara and Barrackpore). This (coupled with solid Hindi speaking vote base) will help Singh to create a comfortable space for him to fight against Dinesh Trivedi.

TMC leadership is already facing ire from other district leaders over ticket distribution and with Singh’s exit, it could turn out disastrous for the party.

Many feel that the shifting of senior party MLAs and MPs to BJP may came as a big challenge before TMC to achieve ‘42 seats’ in this Lok Sabha.

Already three TMC MPs Mukul Roy, Saumitra Khan, Anupam Hazra have switched over to BJP and many more are likely to join in coming few days.

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee, after releasing the candidate list, had said, “Those who want to leave the party, they can leave. I don’t care. One day, they will understand what kind of party BJP is?”