Bengal Congress leader joins Trinamool, says only it can fight BJP

West Bengal Congress leader Shankar Malakar boosts Trinamool Congress' electoral prospects in 2026 Assembly elections by joining party.

West Bengal Congress leader and former MLA Shankar Malakar joined the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday (June 4, 2025), boosting the electoral prospects of the State’s ruling party in the 2026 Assembly elections.

Mr. Malakar, a veteran Congress leader from north Bengal, was also a former president of the Darjeeling District Pradesh Congress Committee. Senior Trinamool Congress party leaders Subrata Bakshi and Aroop Biswas were present when he joined in Kolkata.

While the State Congress leadership expelled Shankar Malakar, the former Congress leader said that he had already sent his resignation to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of practising division by promising to carve separate States out of north Bengal. He said only the Trinamool Congress could fight the saffron party in West Bengal.

Since the Trinamool came to power in 2011, a number of Congress leaders have joined the State’s ruling party. Mr. Malakar was one of the few who had continued with the grand old party. He highlighted the fact that the vote share of the Congress party had plummeted to 3% in the State and neither the State leadership nor the central leadership is interested in boosting the party’s prospects in West Bengal.

“The Congress today lacks direction and grassroots connect in Bengal. I felt that working as an Opposition leader, I could do little for the people and was getting isolated from the people,” Mr. Malakar said. The 70-year-old said that the State Congress leadership lacks initiative and the central leadership is soft towards parties that are political opponents of the party in West Bengal.

Mr. Malakar represented the Matigara Naxalbari Assembly seat for two terms in 2011 and 2016 and is a prominent leader from the Scheduled Caste community. Political observers say that his presence will boost the Trinamool’s prospects in north Bengal particularly in Matigara Naxalbari, a seat that is held by the BJP. Former State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that he was saddened by Malakar’s departure.

The defection comes three weeks after former BJP MP from Alipurduar John Barla joined the Trinamool Congress. Political observers believe that these defections will help the Trinamool Congress in next year’s assembly polls. The BJP has a stronger support base in north Bengal than in south Bengal, and a majority of the party’s MPs and MLAs are from the region.