In a jolt to the West Ben- gal BJP ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, John Barla, former Union Min- ister and the Adivasi face of the party in North Bengal, joined the Trinamool Con- gress in Kolkata on Thurs- day.
His induction comes just four days ahead of the Trinamool Congress su- premo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Ba- nerjee’s scheduled visit to North Bengal.
Barla joined the Trinamool Congress on Thursday in the presence of Trinamool Congress state president Subrata Bakshi and State Power Minister Aroop Biswas.
Last Sunday, some BJP leaders visited Barla’s residence and spoke to him, but he remained firm in his decision to switch parties. Following his induction, Subrata Bakshi said: “Mamata Banerjee will include him in our state committee, and he will also be given organisational responsibility for the tea gardens in North Bengal. He will strengthen our party’s base in the tea belt.” John Barla became the MP from Alipurduar in 2019 after defeating the then-Trinamool MP Dasharath Tirkey by more than 2.5 lakh votes.
He later served as Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs. However, the BJP did not nominate him for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, replacing him with Madarihat MLA Manoj Tigga. Following this, Barla rebelled. After joining the Trinamool Congress today, he admitted that he had been in touch with the Trinamool leadership over the past one and half-years.
Today, Barla criticised the BJP’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, saying: “I wanted to do a lot of work in north Bengal. I wanted to build a hospital in Alipurduar and arranged for Central funds of Rs 160 crores. However, the funding was stopped after Suvendu Adhikari communicated his objection to Delhi. I am grateful that Mamata Banerjee has given me the opportunity to work for North Bengal.”
Speculations were rife over imminent Barla’s defection after he was spotted at a State Government distribution programme hosted by Banerjee in Alipurduar in January this year. At the time, he had said: “The Chief Minister of the State has called me, so I came to this programme. If she blesses me, I will definitely work with her.”
A senior Trinamool Congress leader from North Bengal said: “Barla was in contact with our party after the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He helped us in the Madarihat bypoll, where we won the seat. However, it was the party leadership’s decision on when he would officially join.”
