Agartala, March 23 (TIWN / IANS): The TMC's Tripura unit's coordination committee chairman Ratan Chakraborty and 15 other state committee members on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Assam party leader and Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain.

Before joining The Trinamool Congress, Chakraborty was a former minister of the Congress-led government in Tripura (1988-93). Accompanied by the party's legal cell leader, Nitai Chowdhury, he joined the BJP a fortnight after former state TMC chief Surajit Datta joined the saffron party on March 10.

State BJP president Biplab Kumar Deb, party's observer (Pravari) Sunil Deodhar and Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain formally handed over the party flag to Chakraborty and the other new comers.

"Congress party tried to corner BJP by raising the bogey of communalism but this accusation has fallen flat over the past three years. I am sure under BJP's rule the deprivation of northeast would also end," Chakraborty said.

Without naming any TMC leader in Tripura, he said: "I respect Mamata Banerjee's fighting spirit and leadership but the hands to which the leadership of Trinamool has been entrusted in Tripura are not acceptable to people."