Senior Forward Bloc leader joins Trinamool (Lead)

Kolkata : Senior All India Forward Bloc leader and former West Bengal Minister Mortaza Hossain on Thursday joined the state's ruling Trinamool Congress along with his supporters.

Welcoming Hossain, who served as the Disaster Management Minister during the Left Front government, Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said his inclusion would strengthen the party.

"He had applied to our North 24 Parganas district leadership. After obtaining clearance from our party supremo Mamata Banerjee, we are inducting him in our party," said Chatterjee, who handed over a Trinamool flag to Hossain, a two-term legislator.

Hossain contested from the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency as an AIFB candidate in 2014.

Hossain's switching of political allegiance comes days after another senior AIFB leader and former minister Paresh Adhikari joined the Trinamool.

Chatterjee said all secular persons in the state were backing Banerjee, whose role in confronting communal forces was being lauded even at the national level.

"Over the past two years, I have been keenly watching Mamata Banerjee's development efforts. It is for this reason that I have joined this party," he said.