'Felt disillusioned..not okay with being benched' : Babul Supriyo on his exit from BJP

"I did feel disillusioned...the seven years of hard work that I put in...not even my detractors will say that I have not fought in Bengal or I have not done good enough for the party," Supriyo told NDTV.

"I felt I should move on to a place, to a team where the coach would want me in the team and welcome me with open arms."

He said "everything happened in the past three days" and that Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien spoke to him about the "exciting and challenging opportunity".

After Supriyo was dropped as the Union Minister of State for Environment in August, describing himself as a one-time player, he had declared to leave politics, hinting that his loyalties remained with the BJP despite the apparent snub.

On joining Trinamool Congress, the party he vehemently campaigned against in the Bengal assembly polls in May, Supriyo said he takes full responsibility and is aware of the criticism he would have to face after the "U-turn".

  "In life, certain things happen to you. You respond to that in a manner that you feel is appropriate. My leaving politics was wholehearted," he said about joining the Trinamool Congress.

"The warmth that Mamata didi and Abhishek (Banerjee)...it must have had that zing in it, the spark in it that made me change the position that my seven years of experience in central politics can be revived in a new manner."

"I am not really okay with sitting on the bench," Supriyo told NDTV.

Asked if his disillusionment cropped from BJP asking him to contest the state polls in May, he denied and said his condition was that he must be fielded in a "hard seat" and he was ready to contest the polls from anywhere.

"I had made it known...you field me in a seat from where someone else wouldn't really want to fight. Get your facts right," he said.

Using the metaphor of a game, Supriyo said he wants to be in the "playing 11".

"We all work for some kind of promotions in life, right?" the singer and politician asked describing himself as a workaholic who worked hard and took challenges for the BJP.

He admitted that he had been a fierce critic of the TMC but still joined the party.

Using the sports team theme again, he said players move from one team to another.

"Whatever I do at any point of time, I do it with all my might," he said, hoping that the Trinamool has a plan for him matching his potential.

Despite BJP's stupendous performance in 2021 West Bengal polls with 77 seats against only the three seats it won in 2016, the party could not defeat Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which won 213 seats, two more than the previous polls.

Since May, five BJP MLAs have shifted allegiance to TMC, including Supriyo.

Asked for the reason behind this, he told NDTV, "That is not for me to comment. If there is an exodus, then it is for the BJP leadership to decide why it is happening. Obviously, I should not make a judgment here because I am not a BJP member anymore."