Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has faced a significant setback in Bankura’s Kushtora village. Over 100 TMC workers, including booth president Nandlal Sheet, officially switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The induction ceremony took a theatrical turn when BJP MLA Niladri Shekhar Dana performed a “purification” ritual by sprinkling Ganga water on the new entrants before handing them copies of the Bhagavad Gita and party flags.

The turncoats cited local grievances, specifically the government’s failure to construct a pond for irrigation, as the reason for their departure. TMC leadership, however, dismissed the event as a politically motivated “drama,” claiming that the individuals involved were never part of their organization. With a history of close electoral battles in the Kalapathar Gram Panchayat area, this defection has intensified the local power struggle, making the upcoming polls even more unpredictable.