In a significant political shift ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Kurseong, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday, dealing a blow to the saffron party’s prospects in the Darjeeling Hills.
Sharma, elected on a BJP ticket in the 2021 polls by defeating Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Tshering Lama Dahal by 15,515 votes, formally joined the ruling party at Trinamool Bhavan in Kolkata. He was welcomed by senior Ministers – Education Minister Bratya Basu and Industry Minister Shashi Panja.
Sharma, a vocal advocate for a separate Gorkhaland state, had long been at odds with the BJP leadership. “I was elected by my Gorkha brothers and sisters, but I have not been able to work for them. The BJP made promises but did nothing. There was no real work on the ground,” he told reporters after his induction.
He accused the BJP of betraying hill aspirations, stating: “BJP will never give anything to the Gorkhas. They only make hollow promises to secure votes.” Sharma further slammed the party’s handling of the Gorkhaland issue, noting the so-called interlocutor IPS officer Pankaj Kumar lacked official backing: “He does not have an appointment letter from the Home Ministry… No public hearing has taken place.”
The defection compounds BJP’s challenges, reducing its legislative strength to 64 MLAs from 77 post-2021, impacting the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls next month where MLA votes are crucial.
Sharma’s rift deepened after contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as an Independent from Darjeeling against BJP MP Raju Bista, securing just 7,447 votes to Bista’s 6,79,331. He had avoided the BJP legislative party room, sat separately in Assembly sessions, and publicly demonstrated against the party’s inaction on Gorkhaland.
Despite ties with Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari—who arranged Sharma’s medical treatment and predicted he wouldn’t join TMC—Sharma aligned with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Didi is now my leader… Mamata Banerjee is the only leader who can challenge today’s degrading nationwide politics,” he declared, pledging to work for her “development model.” He emphasized, “I have not joined the TMC for a ticket. Even if the party does not give me a ticket, you will see me in TMC.”
TMC’s Shashi Panja hailed Sharma as “an important Gorkha leader, a farmer, and someone deeply connected to the grassroots.” She noted his discomfort in the BJP: “On several occasions, when BJP MLAs staged walkouts, he chose to remain seated.”
BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh dismissed the impact: “His joining the TMC will have no impact on the BJP in the Hills… He could not even get more votes than BJP in his own constituency in 2024.”