Former CPI-M MP Lakshman Seth joins Congress

Kolkata, March 28 (IANS) Expelled CPI-M leader and a prime accused in the 2007 Nandigram violence, Lakshman Seth, on Thursday shifted to the Congress.Seth, a former MP and Communist Party of India-Marxist frontman in the Nandigram movement, was expelled in March 2014 after he attacked West Bengal's former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and called the party "autocratic"."We welcome him in the Congress and our party President Rahul Gandhi has already declared Seth will contest from Tamluk parliamentary seat," West Bengal Congress President Soumen Mitra told reporters here.Following his expulsion, Seth formed the Bharat Nirman Party which could not make any impact in the state.Seth had spent 118 days in police and judicial custody after the Mamata Banerjee government cracked down on him for allegedly plotting violent incidents in Nandigram in 2007.
--IANS bdc/ssp/rs/mr