Kolkata: Aruna Mardi, the wife of West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party’s two-time Lok Sabha MP and state tribal front president Khagen Murmu, joined the ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, education minister Bratya Basu said.
“Aruna Mardi played a key role in campaigning for her husband. Both were earlier in the CPI(M). As our national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said a few days ago, many are willing to join TMC. You will see more coming as we approach the Assembly polls,” Basu said at the TMC headquarters in Kolkata after handing the party flag to Mardi.
Khagen Murmu won the unreserved Malda North seat in Malda district in 2019 and 2024, securing more than 0.5 million votes, which kept him ahead of his nearest TMC rivals by more than 70,000 votes.
“Two people in the same family can always have different political ideologies. I am inspired by chief minister Mamata Banerjee. She is doing a lot for the tribal community,” Mardi said when asked whether joining TMC would affect her family life.
“I worked for the betterment of tribal women when I was in the CPI(M), although I did not hold any portfolio. I did the same after joining the BJP, but they did not give me any party post. Hence, I decided to leave,” Mardi added.
Neither Murmu nor any state BJP leader had commented till 4 pm.
