Ruling BJP strongly condemned the statement of Sudip Roy Barman that some other MLAs were also in touch with the dissidents and soon the ruling dispensation would turn minority.
ICA Minister Sushanta Chowdhury in a press conference said , the hell bent design to bring down the BJP IPFT government would not succeed.
“There is absolutely no threat to the government. We condemn the idea and efforts to topple the government”, he said.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said . “It was in the expected line that Roy Barman and Saha left from the Assembly membership and the party. They have been openly criticising the chief minister and other party leaders. Their resignation from the Assembly and the party has no importance to BJP,”
For about three years Roy Barman and Saha were bitter critic of the Biplab Deb led government – despite Roy Barman himself being one of the ministers.
Besides, Roy Barman and his group were also accused of back stabbing the BJP in Lok Sabha and other elections held in recent years. They also became openly critical of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and questioned his style of functioning.
In May 2019 Roy Barman was summarily axed from his ministerial berth for his ‘indiscipline’ and ‘anti party activities’ – though the party stepped short of saying it explicitly. But, sources said, his expulsion from the ministry was done after the central leadership sent a clear instruction in this regard.
Steadily Roy Barman was rendered a virtual persona non grata in the party. The BJP remained completely silent all through and did not attach much importance to what Roy Barman and his followers were alleging or saying. That added much to their dismay and consternation as the party’s silence not only turned them insignificant in political discourse but also deepened the uncertainty of the political career. That they were unwelcome and unacceptable in BJP became clear. With the next assembly elections coming closer it also became obvious that in this time they would not be given nomination from BJP. At this point Roy Barman and Saha announced that they would not join the fray as BJP candidates and then started meeting some of his old political friends across the state. All agreed to one point that his political career had been sealed in the BJP and he would have no future at all here. In fact, a Pristha Promukh of the party was given more importance than Roy Barman or Saha in the BJP. As the things came to that pass, they decided to leave the BJP. They had earlier toyed with the idea of joining Trinamool Congress. However, after civic polls fiasco neither Roy Barman was interested to join the Trinamool Congress nor the part showed any inclination to take him to its fold.
Roy Barman and Saha and three other BJP MLAs — Ashish Das, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl and Burba Mohan Tripura — in August last year held a gathering in Agartala.
On August 31 last Chief Minister Biplab Deb sprang a surprise and inducted three BJP MLAs — Ram Prasad Paul, Sushanta Chowdhury, Bhagaban Chandra Das – in the cabinet. Of then Paul and Chowdhury were once critical of Deb and close to Roy Barman. Their induction in the ministry not only unsettled Roy Barman, Saha and their friends but also took out the wind from their sail all of sudden.
Now, even if they join Congress, it is highly unlikely to be a comfortable place for them as the incumbent PCC president is known to be a strong critic of the Barman family – that is Roy Barman and his father former Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman. As it became clear that Roy Barman and Saha’s joining would have nothing to do with their disillusionment of the BJP politics per se but for their personal political interest and survival in the profession, Sinha – also an old hand in the Congress politics- will not be very friendly leader either. Besides, in Congress also Roy Barman in all likelihood would always remain a thorn in the side for Sinha – a discomfort of Roy Barman trying to dislodge him too from the leadership as the way he tried for Biplab Kumar Deb, unsuccessfully though.
