IANS/New Delhi

In a big boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Kiran Bedi and West Bengal minister

Manjul Krishna Thakur yesterday joined Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bedi will contest the February 7 Delhi assembly elections.
Flanked by BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Bedi became a member of the party by dialling the toll-free

number started for the party’s mass membership drive.
Shah announced that Bedi would fight the upcoming assembly election in Delhi. He added that her seat has not yet been decided.
Shah refused to comment if Bedi would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.
“She will certainly fight (Delhi assembly) election, but who will be the chief minister from the BJP will be decided by the

parliamentary board,” he said.
Both Shah and Jaitley said Bedi entry will give the BJP a boost in Delhi.
“Kiran Bedi joining the party will help us fulfill people’s expectations both during and after the election,” Shah said.
Speaking later, Bedi said a stable government was what Delhi needed.
Bedi, a former top cop and social worker, was a part of social activist Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption, which also had in

it Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal along with Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Swami Agnivesh.
In Kolkata, Thakur dealt a big jolt to West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress ahead of the Bangaon Lok Sabha by-election by

joing the BJP.
He called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “unprincipled” and the party unfit for any “good and educated person.”
Thakur, who was the refugee, relief and rehabilitation minister in West Bengal, joined the BJP along with his son and panchayat

official Subrata Thakur. The Trinamool reacted by expelling both and naming their bitter rival Mamata Thakur as party candidate

for Bangaon.
By roping in a sitting minister, who is also the younger son of the influential Matua community leader Binapani Debi Thakurani,

the BJP has got its biggest political catch in the eastern state where it has been traditionally weak, but seemingly making

inroads over the past eight months.
The party won two seats in the Lok Saha contest, and then got its first legislator in 15 years by winning Basirhat (South) by-

election last September, as it tries to project itself as the alternative to the Trinamool.
Announcing his resignation from the ministry and the party and formally joining the BJP in the presence of its state president

Rahul Sinha, Thakur accused Banerjee of indulging in “unprincipled activities” and acting according to her whims.
The condition in the Trinamool is such that no “good and educated person can remain in that party,” he added.
“I was never allowed to work in my department. There was too much of factional feuds... I couldn’t work for the Matua community.
“This party is bereft of any ideals. You know about Saradha (chit fund scam) and other issues... people ridicule us on the

streets,” said Thakur, who also described the chief minister as “conceited.”
The Matua community, comprising primarily low caste Hindu refugees from Bangladesh who are members of the Matua Mahasangh,

commands nearly 10mn votes in various southern Bengal districts and plays a crucial role in determining the electoral fortunes in

at least 74 of the state’s 294 assembly seats. It is almost a ritual for all parties to call on Baroma and seek her support ahead

of every election.
Manjul Thakur’s elder brother Kapil Krishna, who won last year from the Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency, died recently,

necessitating the February 13 by-election.
There is much speculation that Subrata Thakur will be the BJP candidate from Bangaon.

Jaya Prada may take on Kejriwal

Actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and may be fielded against Aam Aadmi Party

chief Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi assembly election, BJP sources said yesterday. According to a BJP leader, the party is banking

on the star’s glamour quotient to win the New Delhi seat won by Kejriwal in 2013 after defeating three-time chief minister Sheila

Dikshit. Jaya Prada fought the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate from Bijnor but lost. Former AAP

legislator Vinod Kumar Binny and former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi too are likely to join the BJP soon, sources said. Meanwhile, the

BJP yesterday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Kejriwal over his allegations against its Delhi unit

president Satish Upadhyay. Kejriwal on Wednesday alleged a nexus between Upadhyay and power companies in the capital.