20 TMC councillors reach Delhi, likely to join BJP

In a setback to TMC chief Mamata Banjerjee, about 20 women councillors of her party arrived here on Tuesday saying they wanted to join BJP as they were influenced by the deep inroads made by the saffron party in West Bengal in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.

"20 councillors are here in Delhi. We are not upset with Mamata ji (Banerjee) but BJP's massive gains in Bengal has influenced us to join the party. People are liking BJP as they are working for them," Ruby Chatterjee, TMC councillor from Garifa, Ward no 6, told ANI.

If the women councillors do join BJP, it would deal another blow for TMC, which lost much ground in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections.

The state witnessed a saffron surge as BJP inflicted a massive blow to the ruling TMC by winning 18 of the 42 parliamentary constituencies, in contrast with the figure of 2 seats in the 2014 general elections.

The Banerjee-led TMC although retained the state, it won just 22 seats, as against 34 in 2014.