Kolkata: A convoy of as many as 30 vehicles set out for the Midnapore College Ground where Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to address a mega public meeting on Saturday. The convoy packed with dissident lawmakers, MPs and other Trinamool Congress leaders set out for the venue at around 12.15 pm. from Mecheda's guest house in East Midnapore. They started after former West Bengal Transport and Irrigation Minister Suvendu Adhikari stepped out of his Contai residence for the Midnapore College Ground.

As per sources, at least nine sitting legislators, besides Suvendu Adhikari, and a Lok Sabha MP from the state's ruling Trinamool Congress, Left Front and the Congress are there in the convoy. Apart from them, many district leaders were also on the list of those who will join the saffron brigade on Saturday afternoon during Shah's grand event. Of the total nine sitting lawmakers, at least six are from the Trinamool Congress, sources said.

Shah, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s national general secretary (in-charge of West Bengal) Kailash Vijayvargiya, national vice-president Mukul Roy and BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh, had lunch at a farmer's home at Balijuri village. Some of the names which are likely to switch to the BJP in Bengal are Barackpore's Trinamool MLA Shilbhadra Dutta, North Contai MLA Banashree Maity, Kalna's MLA Biswajit Kundu, East Burdwan legislator Saikat Panja, Dipali Biswas an MLA from Gajal, Sukra Munda from Nagrakata and Haldia's Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MLA Tapasi Mondal, amongst many others.

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