Dinesh Trivedi joins BJP

New Delhi, March 6 Former Trinamool Congress leader and union minister Dinesh Trivedi on Saturday said that politics is serious business and that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has forgotten her ideals.

Trivedi was welcomed in the BJP by party Chief J.P. Nadda in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan. In February, Trivedi had resigned from Rajya Sabha and the Trinamool Congress.

Speaking after joining the BJP, Trivedi said, "The people are unhappy with the cases of violence and corruption in the state. In the current situation, the people of West Bengal are happy that real change is going to happen there."

Trivedi termed the joining the saffron party as a 'golden moment' for him.

He further stated that now the people of West Bengal want development not corruption and violence.

"I will be active in the election process, whether I contest polls or not. West Bengal has outrightly rejected the Trinamool Congress. They want development not corruption or violence. The people of West Bengal are ready for change," he said.

The former union minister said, "We are in public life since the people and the country are important to us. The BJP is like a family in a way and I have joined this family that aims to serve the people. In the other party, they work to serve a family."

"For me, the country is above everything. The country is also above all for the BJP that is why it has attained the heights where it exists today," Trivedi said.

Welcoming Trivedi in the party, Nadda said he was the right person in the wrong party. "Now, the right person is in the right party," he added.

"He has paid the price for his principles. For his commitment to serve the nation, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha and joined the BJP," Nadda said.

"In the Trinamool Congress, corruption, opportunism, murder of democracy, strangling of institutions has been enshrined. So Trivedi quit the Trinamool and joined the BJP," Nadda said.

( With inputs from IANS )