Is a BJP MP from Andhra behind rebellion in TMC?

NEw new delhi: thither’s unity surprisal in the dramatis personae in L’affaire Trinamool u.s. Congress, a 61-year-old member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh CM Ramesh. What’s a Telugu speaking, TDP-turned-BJP MP doing enticing TMC MPs towards the saffron party? While chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav are officially in charge of this entire operation, businessman politician Ramesh is the one who’s made most of the calls.“My skill is convincing (people),”he told HT, accepting that he has played a role in the defection, “All I need is a couple of hours and I will convince anyone to join (the BJP).” He goes on to add that he has known most of the Trinamool MPs for a long time, and since they meet in the canteen, in Parliament, a bond has developed over the past few years. That bond is certainly true. When his son got married in 2020, lawmakers across party lines flocked to wedding events in Dubai and in Hyderabad. Shatabdi Roy, a staunch Mamata Banerjee loyalist at the time — now a rebel — attended the wedding festivities too.Mamata loyalists and critics of the rebellion have pointed out that the 22 MPs (19 in Lok Sabha, 3 in Rajya Sabha) have been cajoled into joining by the promise of two things. First, their constituency will be looked after by the Centre so that they don’t have unhappy constituents. Second, they will not just be left alone by investigating agencies like ED but also by the local police and CID. In return, they will just have to sign on the dotted line. Ramesh denies there was money involved. “It’s not a money thing, there’s no post, and it’s not commercial.”A TMC MP and Mamata loyalist insisted Ramesh is not the moving force behind the rebellion he is made out to be.“ Ramesh is a friend of mine; I love CM,” said TMC MP Mahua Moitra, “He likes to be politically relevant. Some of us are politically relevant by being on the grassroots. Some people are politically relevant by having good networks. CM Ramesh always likes to be relevant. And CM Ramesh likes to prove his relevance to the BJP. So his relevance to the BJP is, “Oh my God, there’s a cake being baked. Let me at least go and put in a raisin there. So all of a sudden, this is a Bengal cake being baked, of which he’s neither the baker nor does he have the provisions, but he suddenly decided, I’ve got a raisin or two that I want to throw in the picture. So everyone comes in.”Still, it is important to note that Ramesh orchestrated a similar exit with the TDP in 2019. Just as the trigger for the TMC exits was Mamata losing power, in 2019, Ramesh’s then boss Chandrababu Naidu lost power to Jagan Reddy. At the time, just like now, within a month, four of the six TDP MPs walked out and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ramesh, like Kakoli Ghosh and some of the other TMC MPs, was on the radar of law enforcement agencies before he joined the BJP. What insiders found strange was that instead of throwing the anti defection rule book, and complaining to the Chair of the house, party boss Chandrababu Naidu stayed silent. He would, of course, become an alliance partner of the BJP by the time the next election came around.More recently, Ramesh also became involved in the Constitution Club election where the fight was between Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sanjeev Balyan, because the latter was said to be backed by home minister Amit Shah. That’s where he first teamed up with the BJP’s Nishikant Dubey, the Jharkhand MP, who is also said to be involved in the Trinamool operation. “We know that CM Ramesh was in touch with three TMC MPs at the time,’’ said one TMC Rajya Sabha MP, on condition of anonymity.To be sure, it is chief minister Adhikari, who got reluctant MPs like Sayoni Ghosh to sign on; many of them insisted on a personal meeting with him before agreeing. That was at a dinner at Shatabdi Roy’s house on June 8, the same day that INDIA bloc partners met in Delhi.