In a major pre-election setback for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), nearly 100 party workers, including a booth president, have defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kush-tora village, Bankura. The defection was marked by a controversial ceremony where local BJP MLA Niladri Sekhar Dana ‘purified’ the defectors with Ganges water brought from Kumbh Mela and presented them with the Bhagavad Gita before handing them the party flag.

The defector, booth president Nandalal Sheet, cited the government’s failure to address local grievances regarding irrigation as the primary reason for leaving TMC. Conversely, TMC leader Madhusudan Dangar dismissed the event as a “political drama,” claiming that none of the individuals involved were actual TMC members. Analysts view this development as a significant challenge in Kush-tora, a region historically known for razor-thin electoral margins between the two rival parties.