Bengal minister resigns, joins BJP

Kolkata, Jan 15: In a jolt to West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, minister Manjul Krishna Thakur Thursday quit the ministry and joined the BJP. Thakur, who holds the refugee, relief and rehabilitation portfolio in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with his son and panchayat functionary Subrata Thakur. Thakur Thursday called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee "unprincipled" and the party unfit for any "good and educated person". Announcing his resignation from the ministry and the party and formally joining the BJP in the presence of its state president Rahul Sinha, he and accused Banerjee of indulging in "unprincipled activities" and acting as per her whims.