In a setback to the BJP in Bengal, the wife of its MP Saumitra Khan has left the saffron party to join the ruling Trinamool Congress. Enraged by Sujata Mondal’s decision to leave the BJP, Khan has threatened to divorce his wife saying that his relationship with her was over.
Explaining the reason for deserting the BJP, Mondal said that she wasn’t getting the due credit in the Hindutva party even though she risked her life to ensure her husband’s Lok Sabha victory last year.
“Despite enduring physical attacks, sacrificing so much to get my husband elected to Parliament, I got nothing in return… I want to work under our beloved leader Mamata Banerjee and our dada Abhisek Banerjee,” Mondal was quoted by news agency PTI.
Mondal had single-handedly run her husband’s campaign in Bishnupur when the court barred him from entering the constituency in a criminal case. She was credited with ensuring Khan’s victory.
Saumitra Khan, who had joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress and is now the head of BJP Yuva Morcha in the state, broken down in public while reacting to his wife’s decision to join Mamata Banerjee. He said, “I am sending a divorce notice to Sujata today.”
He told a news channel, “I wouldn’t have any ties with her since this will amount to breaking the trust of many people who are with me today.” He said that both PM Modi and BJP President JP Nadda treated Mondal as their daughter, adding that the TMC had stolen his wife.
Mondal had earlier shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The latest development came just days after several senior Trinamool functionaries including former minister Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah.