OUR CORRESPONDENTJiaganj: Murshidabad Congress MLA Shaoni Singha Roy joined Trinamul on Sunday, bringing down the number of Congress legislators in the district to 11 from the post-Assembly polls figure of 14 in 2016. This is the second defection from the Congress to Trinamul in the past 10 days. Kandi Congress MLA Apurba Sarkar had joined Trinamul on March 8. So, I chose to join Trinamul and carry out development work for the people under the able guidance of Mamata Banerjee and Subhendu da," Shaoni said at a Trinamul programme in Jiaganj after joining the party. With Shaoni's defection, Trinamul has a strength of 226 in the 294-member Assembly, up from 211 in 2016.

Source: The Telegraph March 18, 2018 19:52 UTC