Former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee on Sunday returned to the Trinamool Congress shortly after leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party, PTI reported.

Banerjee joined the Trinamool Congress at a rally held by the party’s National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Tripura capital of Agartala. He said that he regrets having joined the BJP ahead of the West Bengal elections.

“I realised that I cannot accept the politics of hatred and divisive ideology propagated by BJP,” said Banerjee, who was earlier the West Bengal forest minister. “I cannot accept the anti-people policies of the BJP.”

He also claimed that he had often opposed personal attacks and slander against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee but said that “no one listened”, according to PTI.

Rajib Banerjee said that he had made a mistake by quitting the Trinamool Congress. “Mamata Banerjee is Mother India,” he added, News18 reported. “I will work as common worker, as you say.”

Banerjee contested the West Bengal election on a BJP ticket from Domjur in Howrah district, but lost to Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Ghosh.

Earlier this month, he was named as a member of the BJP’s national executive.

The Trinamool Congress emerged victorious in the West Bengal Assembly election held earlier this year, winning 215 out of 294 seats. Subsequently, several political leaders who had left the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP before the election returned to the party.

These include five MLAs – Krishna Kalyani, Mukul Roy, Tanmoy Ghosh, Biswajit Das and Soumen Roy.

Further, former Union minister Babul Supriyo also left the BJP and joined Banerjee-led party on September 18.