Dealing a major blow to party organisation in Murshidabad, Congress MLA from Kandi, Apurba Sarkar, once one of the chief lieutenants of PCC chief Adhir Chowdhury joined Trinamul Congress at his constituency on Thursday.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) is reduced to 33 MLAs following his defection. Sarkar was seeking to defect from the party for quite some time, leader of CLP, Abdul Mannan said.

Describing him to be a “time sever”, the CLP leader said “whatever political stature Sarkar has attained was owing to his association with Congress.”

A Trinamool observer for Murshidabad, state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari addressed a rally here during the day welcoming the Congress legislator to the new party fold.

One of the staunchest supporters of PCC chief Adhir Chowdhury at a time, Sarkar’s defection is a major crack in Congress organisation in Murshidabad district.

Ever since Congress nominees fared well in the 2014 parliamentary elections and 2016 Assembly polls, Trinamul leadership have been trying to storm the Congress organisation in this district considered to be strongest in the state.

Sarkar is the second Congress legislator in Murshidabad who has defected to Trinamul as MLA from Rejinagar, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury was the first Congress legislator to shift allegiance to Trinamul.

Sarkar shifted his political allegiance to Trinamul as he reportedly had a strained relationship with PCC chief Adhir Chowdhury. “I felt ignored for quite sometime in the Congress,” he said.

“Since last year I was not called or informed of crucial part meetings,” Sarkar said. “So I thought it is better to join the development work of the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee,” he added.

Mr Adhikari said, “It was my commitment to the chief minister to erode the Congress party’s base in Murshidabad.” “With the Kandi MLA joining our party on Thursday, there hardly remains any senior leader to hold the Congress flag at Kandi,” he said.

The minister also hinted that Congress MLA from Murshidabad Saoni Singha Roy is likely to join Trinamul shortly.

The local Congress leaders have denied that Sarkar’s defection have dealt any blow to the party in this district. Kandi, an Assembly segment of Behrampore parliamentary constituency is part of Chowdhury’s parliamentary seat which had given him the highest lead in the country in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

It may be recalled, flouting party guideline, Chowdhury fielded Sarkar as an indepedent nominee from Kandi in 2006 against the then sitting legislator, Atish Sinha when Trinamul had electoral alliance with Congress.

Subsequently, Chowdhury managed to iron out differences with his party as Sarkar joined Congress following his victory. In both 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections, Sarkar was elected as a Congress nominee.