Lok Sabha elections: Tripura BJP vice president Subal Bhowmik returns to Congress

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tripura vice president Subal Bhowmik on Tuesday quit the saffron party and joined the Congress, PTI reported. Senior BJP leader Prakash Das and vice president of the BJP Kishan Morcha Premtosh Debnath also joined the Congress.

Bhowmik, Das and Debnath have been associated with the Congress in the past too.

Bhowmik is a former Congress legislator who joined the BJP in 2015. He said he had joined the BJP to restore democracy in the state after 25 years of rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

“However, after BJP came to power we could understand that there was no virtual change in the government and there was no democracy in the party,” Bhowmik said, according to PTI. “The government is corrupt and inefficient and failed to deliver any good to people. I am sure BJP would be ousted in the Centre and Congress under leadership of Rahul Gandhi would secure absolute majority.”

Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Bhowmik said Congress President Rahul Gandhi will announce his candidature from his rally at Khumulwng on Wednesday.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Debashish Sen also joined the Congress on Tuesday.

Congress Tripura unit president Pradyot Kishore Debburman welcomed the leaders to the party, saying it was “like returning of family members to their own home”, PTI reported. Debburman also claimed that many other leaders who had left the party earlier would return to the Congress at the Wednesday rally.

Lok Sabha elections to the two seats in Tripura will be held on April 11 and April 18. The results of the multi-phased elections will be announced on May 23.