Kolkata: Ten Trinamool Congress councillors out of 18 in Naihati Municipality who had joined the BJP in May this year returned to their previous party on Saturday. There were a total 31 Trinamool Congress councillors in the municipality. On May 29, all the 18 Trinamool Congress councillors had flown to Delhi and joined the BJP in presence of some of its leaders. The number of Trinamool Congress councillors in the Naihati Municipality dropped to 13 following the incident. The district BJP leaders claimed that they had taken control of the municipality board from the TMC. With the returning of 10 Trinamool Congress councillors to its party fold, the tally reached to 23 for the ruling party in the state. TMC leaders have expressed their optimism saying that the remaining eight TMC councillors who were still with the BJP would soon be back with the TMC. Two TMC councillors from Gadulia municipality who joined BJP also returned to their old party. Saturdays joining occurred in presence of senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim. He said he was happy that these councillors have returned to TMC. He also added that he felt sorry for those who took the Trinamool Congress councillors to their five-star party office in Delhi with much fanfare but eventually failed to retain them. "I am happy that my brothers and sisters who joined the BJP have returned to the Trinamool Congress. Those who are doing politics after being inspired by the principals and idealism of Mamata Banerjee will not be able to adjust themselves in a completely different environment. The culture the BJP begets is quite different from what our party promotes. All these TMC councillors were forced to join BJP at gunpoint. A woman councillor joined the BJP after the miscreants put a gun on her sons head." Hakim trained his guns on Arjun Singh and accused him of unleashing terror in the area with his henchmen. He also blamed Singh and his associates for forcing the TMC councillors to join BJP. Violence erupted in various parts under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency area after Singh won the seat on BJPs ticket, alleged Hakim. It may be mentioned here that Naihati saw unprecedented violence following the declaration of the Lok Sabha results with the BJP trying to capture various municipalities by force. Hakim also alleged that a TMC leader, Umesh Singh, was attacked by a BJP councillor Ganesh Das and had to be admitted to a private hospital in the city with serious head injuries. Hakim held Singh responsible for it. Das has been arrested in this connection.

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