File photo Biplab Ojha at Nalhati in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. , Photo Credit: PTI
is a close associate of Jailed Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal On Tuesday, December 27, 2022, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, citing “increasingly difficult working conditions” and “lack of opportunities” in West Bengal’s ruling party to serve the people.
TMC’s Birbhum district vice-president Biplab Ojha sided with the saffron camp at a meeting of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Shubhendu Adhikari.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Mr Ojha’s move would have no impact on the party’s performance in the panchayat polls to be held next year.
In an apparent reference to Anubrata Mandal of the Trinamool Congress, the official said, “A big leader, who used to be a fish seller, is ready to go to Tihar Jail. His aide is already there.”
It may be noted that Mandal’s former bodyguard Sehgal Hussain was arrested in a cattle smuggling case and is now lodged in Tihar Jail.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested Mandal in August in connection with its probe into the case.
Addressing a gathering of BJP workers at Birbhum’s Nalhati, Adhikari said, “Big thieves will be sent to Tihar Jail. Wait for a few more days. Those hoarding the poor’s money will not be spared.”
Notably, Mondal moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s order to produce him in the national capital in a money laundering case related to alleged cattle smuggling.
The Enforcement Directorate, along with the CBI, is probing alleged money transactions in the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal.
Reacting to Mr Adhikari’s comments, Mr Ghosh wondered whether the BJP leader had become the public relations officer of the CBI and ED as he had “predicted their next move in judicial matters”.