In a jolt to the Congress ahead of the next year’s Assembly elections in the state, its one of the popular faces in north Bengal and district party president of Darjeeling, Sankar Malakar, joined the ruling TMC on Wednesday.
“I have decided to join the TMC as this is the only party which is fighting against the BJP and its communal politics in Bengal,” Malakar, who was the legislator of Matigara-Naxalbari between 2011 and 2016, told reporters as he joined the TMC in presence of senior minister Aroop Biswas.
Malakar, an influential figure among the Scheduled Caste community in north Bengal, said he was always inclined towards the “development agenda” of the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Several Congress leaders and followers will join TMC along with me,” Malakar added.
TMC leader Biswas, who inducted Malakar into the party, said, “We don’t pressure any leader to join our party. They are joining spontaneously.”
Earlier, Congress state president Shuvankar Sarkar had announced that Malakar was expelled from all his posts at the Congress party.
A senior Congress leader said, “Sankar Malakar is known for his organisational capacity. He won from the Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly seat in the 2016 Assembly elections. His joining TMC certainly further weakens the Congress in the Siliguri and Darjeeling districts.”
On May 15, former Union minister and former BJP MP John Barla, who also belongs to North Bengal, joined the TMC as well.
A senior leader of TMC in North Bengal said, “In North Bengal, the TMC doesn’t have a strong base like it does in South Bengal. So, before the 2026 Assembly elections, the party is looking to take those leaders from the Opposition who have ground level experience. Sankar Malakar is such a leader.”
The TMC lost all eight seats of North Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, in the 2021 Assembly elections, it won 23 of the 54 Assembly seats in the region — with the tally later going up to 26 after bypoll wins and Alipurduar MLA Suman Kanjilal joining the party — while the BJP won the rest.