Agartala, April 1 : The lone elected councillor of Trinamool Congress in Tripura at Ambassa M cipal Council of Dhalai district Suman Paul joined BJP on Thursday. In the last urban local bodies election, BJP had won 112 seats out of 334 without contest and 217 defeated the opposition. However, Trinamool Congress and Tipra Motha won one seat each while three by CPI-M. After BJP’s success in the just-concluded assembly election in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa, frustration gripped the Trinamool Congress supporters in the state. A large number of them have already shifted their allegiance to Congress and BJP. Suman Paul was the torchbearer of TMC in the elected bodies of Tripura. His sudden departure to the saffron camp has become a setback for Mamata Banerjee, which had re-launched the party in a big way after winning West Bengal last year but now losing its cadre every day. “I fought for TMC against numerous odds but after they lost the election battle, all the leaders have disappeared from Tripura. Since people of my locality voted me to power to do good for them, I found BJP is the only option to serve the people here and take part in the development activities undertaken by the government,” Paul told media after formally joining BJP. The state president of BJP Dr Manik Saha welcomed him at party headquarters here in presence of the information minister Sushanta Chowdhury and other senior leaders. Later he met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb at Secretariat and vowed to work for the people. BB ARN