The Trinamool Congress on Monday replaced Sarala Murmu, who was fielded from Habibpur constituency, in the run-up to the Assembly elections in West Bengal. Pradeep Baskey was named the party’s new candidate from the seat.

The last minute changes were made amid rumours that Murmu is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party after the Trinamool Congress denied her the seat she wanted to contest from, the Old Malda constituency, according to News18. “This is primarily the reason why she has decided to quit the TMC and is planning to join the BJP,” an unidentified TMC leader told the channel.

The Trinamool Congress, however, in a statement said that the decision to replace Murmu was due to the leader’s “ill health”.

The BJP is aggressively trying to gain ground in Malda, hoping to make significant inroads in the state through the district. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the TMC had fared poorly in the 12 seats in Malda, which is considered a stronghold of the Congress. The TMC had also lost both Lok Sabha seats of the district in 2019.

An unidentified official told News18 that besides Murmu, 14 others were also planning to switch over to the saffron camp. This includes Malda Zila Parishad President Gour Chandra Mondal and TMC coordinator Amlan Bhaduri, he said.

Other officials told the channel that Murmu, along with the other leaders, on Sunday took a train from Malda to Kolkata, where they are expected to join the BJP. All of them are believed to be close to Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the saffron party last year, and is credited for sparking an exodus of rebel TMC leaders in Malda.

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The Trinamool Congress has been witnessing a spate of defections ahead of the eight-phased elections in the state, from March 27 to April 29.

Political turmoil began for ruling party after Adhikari, a former state minister and a close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, quit the party in December. After a long-drawn period of public dissatisfaction with the ruling TMC, Adhikari joined the BJP during Shah’s two-day visit to West Bengal on December 19. He resigned from all the positions he held in the Trinamool Congress on December 17, a day after he resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and almost 20 days after he resigned as West Bengal transport minister. He had quit from the post of chairperson of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners too.

Oher resignations followed.

On Saturday, former Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi became the latest addition to the long list of defectors. He joined the BJP in New Delhi, in what he called a “golden moment”, in the presence of party president JP Nadda and others.

On March 2, months after quitting and then making a U-turn to join the Trinamool Congress again, Jitendra Tiwari joined the BJP. Last month, Diamond Harbour MLA Dipak Halder joined the BJP, a day after quitting Trinamool Congress.

On January 31, former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee joined the BJP along with MLAs Prabir Ghosal and Baishali Dalmiya, former Howrah Mayor Rathin Chakraborty and actor Rudranil Ghosh.

On January 5, West Bengal Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from his post. He will, however, continue as an MLA.