'Betrayed by TMC, will return to BJP': Arjun Singh after being denied LS ticket in Bengal

Kolkata: Disgruntled TMC leader Arjun Singh on Thursday said he would return to the BJP after he was denied a party ticket from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat which he represents.

Singh also claimed that a "top TMC leader" would join the saffron party along with him.

Singh had quit the BJP and rejoined TMC after being elected from the seat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

He had earlier quit the Trinamool Congress ahead of the previous Lok Sabha elections. In 2022, he returned to the TMC but did not resign as MP.

"When I joined the Trinamool Congress in 2022, I was promised that I would be re-nominated as the TMC's candidate from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat. But the party did not keep its promise and betrayed me. So, I have decided to return to the BJP," he said.

The TMC, which announced its candidate list on Sunday, nominated state minister Partha Bhowmick from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat.