Eight TMC councillors from Halisahar municipality, who had defected to BJP last month, rejoined TMC on Tuesday.
State Municipal Affairs Minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim announced this in the presence of the councillors at the Assembly press corner.
According to Hakim, the TMC councillors were forced by BJP leaders to join their party or face “grave consequences”.
“The BJP has adopted the policy of creating a scare among TMC councillors to force them join the saffron party. In an attempt to score points in front of Amit Shah, BJP MP Arjun Singh threatened our councillors to join the BJP or face grave consequences. Today, they have shown courage and came back to us. They were suffocating in the BJP and wanted to breathe fresh air under TMC,” Hakim said.