Former BJP leader and Babul Supriyo on Saturday joined the Trinamool Congress in a ceremony in Kolkata. This comes a month after he announced he will retire from politics, which he announced a month after he was asked to step down as junior minister in the Environment Ministry. 

“Today, in the presence of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and RS MP Derek O’Brien, former Union Minister and sitting MP Babul Supriyo joined the Trinamool family,” the party said in a tweet. yo

In August, Surpiyo said he will quit politics entirely, but was convinced to continue his duties as a Member of Parliament. After a meeting with BJP president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah, the Asansol MP said he will continue to discharge his constitutional responsibilities as a parliamentarian but would withdraw from politics and leave his official residence in the national capital.

Meanwhile, after he announced his change of plans about quitting politics, the TMC mocked him for allegedly enacting a “well-scripted drama” to score brownie points in the saffron party after he was dropped from the union cabinet in the recent reshuffle.

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The BJP’s West Bengal leadership, however, maintained a stoic silence on the development.

Both Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri, MPs from Bengal, were dropped as ministers in the July cabinet reshuffle. Four other MPs from West Bengal – Nishith Pramanik, Santanu Thakur, Subhas Sarkar and John Barla – were inducted as MOS in different ministries.

Upset at being dropped from the Union Council of Ministers, Supriyo, a two-term MP, on Saturday announced that he would resign as MP and quit politics.

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Supriyo contested the recent Assembly elections in West Bengal from the Tollygunj constituency, losing to TMC’s Aroob Biswas. 

Following the TMC’s thumping return to power, Supriyo called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a “cruel lady”. 

“Because I think people of Bengal made a historic mistake by not giving Bharatiya Janata party a chance and by electing this Corrupt, Incapable, Dishonest government & a cruel lady back to power,” he said in a Facebook post which was later deleted.