Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chandan Mitra, who recently joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), defended his earlier tweets against the TMC, saying everyone had the right to change their mind.
The statement came after Mitra's tweets branding TMC workers as 'hooligans' surfaced. He had also reportedly blamed the party for rigging elections in 2014.
"What I wrote 5-6 years ago, how is that important? These are just attempts by trolls to embarrass me. Yes I did make certain remarks as I was a candidate and a senior BJP leader in Bengal, but everyone has a right to change their mind," he told ANI.
Furthermore, Mitra claimed that the TMC's support in West Bengal was "unmatched", and therefore, has no reason to feel threatened.
"I don't think TMC has any reason to feel threatened in West Bengal; its popularity is unmatched. BJP is now no.2, but a very distant no.2, that also because of the collapse of CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist)," he noted.
Mitra, along with three Congress MLAs in the West Bengal assembly, namely Sabina Yasmin, Samar Mukherjee and Akhruzzman, former CPM MP Moinul Hassan and Mizoram advocate-general Biswajit Deb, joined the TMC on July 21, in the presence of party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.