Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed on Wednesday that the BJP would secure the support of 275 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly if a floor test were held.
"If you have a floor test in the Assembly tomorrow, we will get the support of 275 MLAs. Among them, 64 are ready to raise their hands in our support," the Chief Minister told reporters.
The BJP has 209 MLAs in the state after the Assembly elections held earlier this year. Of the 80 MLAs who won on Trinamool Congress tickets, about 65 backed Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition and parted ways with Mamata Banerjee. The rebel bloc is now referred to as the Democratic Trinamool Congress.
The remarks drew a sharp response from the Opposition. Mamata Banerjee's loyalists allege that the BJP engineered defections in her party. Kunal Ghosh, spokesperson of the Mamata-led All India Trinamool Congress, said the Chief Minister's statement proved that the Ritabrata Banerjee loyalists were "nothing but agents of the BJP". CPI(M) leader Shatarup Ghosh said the remarks should be brought to the notice of the courts to remove Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition. Akhruzzaman, Opposition Chief Whip and a member of the rebel faction, said his party's policy was to keep equal distance from all parties, including the BJP.
Meanwhile, after the rebellion cost Mamata Banerjee control over her party's name and symbol, 20 of her party's Lok Sabha MPs have merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India. The NCPI has sought a two-week extension, until November 3, from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to respond to a disqualification petition filed by the Mamata-led faction.