Rebel BJP MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma joins TMC ahead of Bengal polls
KOLKATA, Feb 19: Amid a political slugfest over an “fish-meat sale ban in open space” allegations by TMC against the NDA government in Bihar, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has asserted that people in the state are free to consume the food of their choice, clarifying that the party is only against the sale of beef in open.
The controversy erupted after senior TMC leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised what they described as a BJP-backed move against non-vegetarian food habits, linking it to a recent order by the Bihar government regulating the open sale of meat.
“People in Bengal will eat whatever they want to eat. Bengal will have its fish and meat,” Bhattacharya said, rejecting allegations made by the TMC of a proposed ban on fish and meat sale in open in the neighbouring state.
Elaborating on the Bihar directive, Bhattacharya said the BJP had not proposed any such blanket restriction. “They can never utter such a thing. Why should they? None will accept it. The TMC is twisting the comments,” he said.None in Bihar or West Bengal will abide by such a ban if it comes, and no such ban exists, he said.
Drawing a distinction, he maintained that the BJP’s position was limited to opposing the open sale of beef. “Only that stuff you sell in the open will not be allowed by the BJP,” he said.
On the alleged ban on fish and meat sales in Bihar, the West Bengal chief minister on Tuesday pointed out the livelihood concerns of small traders.
BJP MLA JOINS TMC
Rebel BJP MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma joined the ruling TMC on Thursday, delivering a setback to the saffron camp barely two months before the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections and stirring fresh political churn in the Darjeeling Hills.
Sharma, the Kurseong MLA elected on a BJP ticket in 2021, formally joined the TMC at Trinamool Bhavan, the party’s headquarters here, in the presence of senior leaders Bratya Basu and Shashi Panja, marking a dramatic turn in his fraught relationship with the BJP over the Gorkhaland issue.The Gorkha leader’s switch assumes added significance with the term of the 294-member West Bengal assembly set to expire in May and Rajya Sabha elections scheduled next month.
With Sharma’s exit, the BJP’s strength in the assembly has come down to 64, a factor that could weigh on electoral arithmetic in the Upper House polls, where MLAs are the electors.
For nearly two years, Sharma had been publicly airing his discontent with the BJP, accusing it of reneging on promises made to the Gorkhas. (PTI)
