Former BJP MP John Barla Joins TMC, Says 'Was Not Allowed To Work For Tribals'

John Barla, who was elected on a BJP ticket from Alipurduars in 2019, had expressed unhappiness after being denied a party ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

File photo of former BJP MP John Barla.

Source : X

Former BJP MP and ex-union minister John Barla on Thursday joined the Trinamool Congress and claimed that the saffron party did not allow him to work for the tribals.

 

Barla, who was elected on a BJP ticket from Alipurduars in 2019 and served as Union minister of state for minority affairs, had expressed unhappiness after being denied a party ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“I was not allowed to work for the development of the tribal people during my time in the BJP,” Barla said after formally joining the TMC, according to PTI.

The BJP had fielded the party’s legislative chief whip, Manoj Tigga, in his place from Alipurduars. Tigga went on to win the Alipurduars parliamentary seat, which has a large population of tea garden workers and tribal communities. Since the 2024 polls, Barla had distanced himself from the BJP's Bengal leadership, fuelling speculation about a possible switch.

Barla formally joined the TMC in Kolkata on Thursday in presence of senior leaders Subrata Bakshi and Aroop Biswas.

"If development work for the people is stopped by the party itself, why should I continue in it?” Barla said after joining the Mamata Banerjee-led party in Kolkata.

“When I became a Union minister, I faced roadblocks every time I tried to work for the people. The party leadership repeatedly stopped me," he claimed.

Barla said he wanted to build a Rs 160 crore hospital, and all formalities including identification of land for the purpose, were completed.

"We just had to sign the MoU, but the present Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari got it blocked. A call went from here to Delhi, and the project was shelved,” he claimed, according to news agency PTI.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress welcomed the former BJP MP to the party.

"With his experience and grassroots connect, especially in Alipurduar and among tea garden workers, we are confident he will play a meaningful role in strengthening our fight for people’s rights,” the TMC said in a post on X.

Barla’s fallout with the BJP is also believed to have contributed to the party’s poor performance in the region. Differences between him and Manoj Tigga over candidate selection reportedly impacted the BJP’s prospects in the Madarihat assembly bypoll held last year, which the TMC won.

Barla had earlier courted controversy in 2021–22 when he, along with some BJP legislators, demanded that a Union Territory be carved out of the districts in the northern part of West Bengal.