'Unexpected' joining

With a string of electoral successes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is currently on a high. It is, therefore, rare to find them chafing, but Wednesday was one such occasion. Last week, BJP chief Amit Shah was in Naxalbari village, in West Bengal. It was a much publicised visit. There, Shah was hosted by a tribal couple, Raju and Gita Mahali. The BJP president sat on the floor at the couple’s hut and had food served on a banana leaf. But the BJP was in for a rude shock when news came in that the couple had joined the ruling Trinamool Congress (tmc). By evening, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference in New Delhi to allege that TMC supporters had abducted the couple and forced them members of that party. But news reports quoted Gita Mahali denying that they were forced to join the TMC.She said that she and her husband like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and therefore they decided to join the TMC.