Bengali actress quits Trinamool to join BJP

Citing building mistrust in the party due to the raging Saradha scam, West Bengal Women's Commission member and actress Locket Chatterjee Thursday quit Trinamool Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The Saradha scam has put the party (TMC) in a strange situationa there is an odd mistrust prevailing within the party. Wherever I go, I have to hear about the Saradha scam from people despite some of us not being involved", Chatterjee told mediapersons at the state Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters here.

"I feel perhaps nobody within the party (TMC) now trusts others," she said.

Chatterjee said she wasn't able to work properly in the Trinamool fold and was looking for a breather and a party which will provide her the platform to work.

She said the crimes against women, the recent death of a youth Arup Bhandari - fatally beaten up for protesting eve teasing in Howrah district's Salkia - as also the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam have shaken her confidence in the party.

"I could not protest (against these situations) within the party - I tried but felt protesting against the situation outside the party will be more effective", she said.

She said she wants to work for the development of the state and welfare of its people.

Perceived to be close to the Trinamool supremo and state chief minister Mamata Banerjee who once aggressively brought local actors and intellectuals within her party, Chatterjee's resignation is another blow to Bengal's ruling outfit, already reeling under the ongoing CBI investigation where several of its leaders have been either arrested or quizzed.

Chatterjee's announcement of breaking ranks with the Trinamool came almost at the same time when another party leader Srinjoy Bose announced his decision to leave the party as also his Rajya Sabha membership saying politics was not his cup of tea.

Earlier, state minister Manjul Krishna Thakur quit the cabient to cross over to the BJP.

Another Bengali actress Rupa Ganguly, who played the role of Draupadi in the 1990s megaserial Mahabharata, also joined the BJP recently.