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In a big blow to Suvendu Adhikari, BJP loses another MLA to Trinamool in Bengal: Who is Tapasi Mondal?

Mondal is the MLA from Haldia, an important industrial centre in Purba Medinipur that is considered the stronghold of the Adhikaris. She is the ninth BJP MLA to have moved to the TMC since 2021.

BJP’s Haldia MLA Tapasi Mondal (in right) switched to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), becoming the 12th MLA of the Opposition party to move to the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the last four years. (Photo Credit: X/AITCofficial)

For the BJP that has been haemorrhaging leaders in West Bengal ever since it failed to win West Bengal in 2021, the latest blow landed on Monday and that too in Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s turf.

BJP’s Haldia MLA Tapasi Mondal switched to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), becoming the ninth MLA of the Opposition party to move to the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the last four years. With this, the BJP’s strength in the 294-member Assembly has dropped to 65. Some of the major leaders who have defected to the TMC are Mukul Roy, Krishna Kalyan, Biswajit Das, who were elected from the Krishnangar North, Raiganj, and Bagdah Assembly constituencies respectively.

Mondal’s move to the TMC is a blow for the BJP as she wields influence in Haldia, an important industrial and financial centre in Purba Medinipur district that is considered the Adhikari family’s stronghold. With her in its ranks, the TMC’s efforts to break the BJP’s hold in Purba Medinipur will receive a major boost.

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There are 16 Assembly seats in Purba Medinipur, of which the BJP holds seven, including Adhikari’s Nandigram seat, while the TMC has nine. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won the two parliamentary constituencies in the district and led in 15 of the Assembly segments. Mondal’s entry into the party is expected to help the TMC’s efforts to tilt the scale back in its favour.

“The BJP did really well in Purba Medinipur in 2021 and also in the Lok Sabha election in 2024. Mondal has been close to Adhikari and had joined the BJP around the same time (in 2020). Mondal’s entry will help us get the help organisationally and counter Adhikari,” said a senior TMC leader.

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The BJP and Adhikari, however, claimed the MLA’s exit would have no impact. “Earlier, leaders such as Mukutmani Adhikari, Krishna Kalyani and Biswajit Das also joined the TMC and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. But they all lost to the BJP. People will not accept this (Mondal’s exit). Mondal has no organisational heft and nobody, even a booth president, will go with her. It will not matter to us,” Adhikari said.

Mondal’s political journey

Mondal started her political career in the CPI(M), becoming a councillor in Haldia municipality in 2011.

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In the 2016 Assembly polls, the Left party fielded her from Haldia, an SC-reserved seat. Mondal was one of the 30 CPI(M) candidates who won but the lone CPI(M) MLA from Purba Medinipur. She went on to join the BJP in 2020, saying she wanted to fight the TMC and its politics. Adhikari too had joined the party around that time after falling out with the Mamata Banerjee.

In the 2021 polls, Mondal defeated the TMC’s Swapan Naskar by 15,000 votes. According to sources, Mondal has a “strong organisational” base in Haldia and a dedicated team of workers.

Mondal’s statement on Monday that she did not have the backing of the BJP leadership indicated that factional struggles in the Bengal BJP over the past year had contributed to her decision. Mondal opposed the candidature of Calcutta High Court judge-turned-politician Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s candidature from Tamluk in the Lok Sabha elections last year, according to BJP insiders. Gangopadhyay won and since then there has been tension between the two over local issues.

In a scathing statement, Gangopadhyay said she was a “corrupt leader” who “went to her place”.

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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