After ditching the Trinamul Congress and joining the BJP very recently, MLA from the Tapan Assembly constituency and former Minister of State for North Bengal Development Department Bachhu Hansda may return to the TMC fold tomorrow.

It is said that no top BJP leader or even workers have welcomed him in the party or given him a call ever since he joined the party in Kolkata on 10 March. On the other hand, TMC leaders have been continuously trying to communicate with Hansda and trying to woo him back, sources have said.

Hansda was not happy with the way the TMC ignored him and chose another candidate to contest the upcoming Assembly elections from Tapan. He had joined the BJP, allegedly with hopes of getting a ticket to contest the polls for the party. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for the six seats in the district.

This evening, Hansda said that he could return to the TMC “as early as possible.”

While district TMC leaders welcomed the decision, BJP leaders here refused to take any responsibility and asked him to contact state leaders.

“Even before he had joined the BJP, district TMC leaders, especially Arpita Ghosh, tried to manage the defections and requested him not to join any other party,” a source said. However, Hansda joined the BJP and resigned as the minister of state. The next morning, the district administration withdrew all state facilities being provided to Hansda. “I will prove myself if the BJP gives me a chance and uses my experience. I will work for the BJP and will hand down defeat to the TMC in the district,” Hansda had said just before he joined the saffron brigade.

Hansda was elected as the MLA two times from the Tapan seat and has worked in different government posts, including the chairman of the District Primary School Council and the ICDS. He was also the district youth president of the party, while he held the post of the minister of state when he quit the party.

“For six long days, I waited for a single phone call from district BJP leaders, but no one contacted me. Moreover, I personally contacted Member of Parliament Sukanta Majumder and district party president Binay Barman repeatedly. But there was no word of welcome for me. It seems there is no hand in the district BJP to hold me. As such, I have decided to return to the TMC and engage myself in party organisation work. I have sent my proposal to the district and state leaders of the TMC,” Hansda said today.

District president of the TMC Gowtam Das said they would welcome Hansda back. “We will be happy to work together again. He is an able organiser and leader of Tapan. His comeback will strengthen our mass support in Tapan,” he said.

One of the General Secretaries of the BJP in South Dinajpur, Bapi Sarkar, on the other hand, said, ” Hansda joined the party in Kolkata office and never informed us. Leaders of the state have taken him in and they will take a decision as to how they will use him. We cannot take any decision from the district level. He has to talk with state leaders with whom he joined the BJP. He may rejoin the TMC and it is his personal decision, and there will be no impact on the party here.”