A day after former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Dinesh Trivedi resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat in a dramatic announcement on the floor of the House, he told news agency ANI that he was very grateful to BJP and its senior leaders, who have offered him to join the party. “It would be a privilege, no question about it. But, let me settle down,” he said. On Friday, while submitting his resignation letter, he said he was feeling a ‘little suffocated’ over the violence in his state West Bengal.

“I am grateful to my party that it has sent me here, but now I feel a little suffocated. We are unable to do anything and there is atrocity (going on). My voice of conscience is saying what Swami Vivekananda used to say — arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached,” Trivedi said in the House.

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A day before his resignation, Trivedi tweeted his appreciation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch for privatisation. “I am personally in agreement with this. The way forward is to let our young talented mind innovate, create and distribute wealth. Pay Govt levies, create jobs. For that, our Govt officers (babus) too, need to encourage the youth.”

In the past few month, TMC has seen a steady exodus of leaders to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is seeking to make inroads in the state ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled in April.