Former Bengal Minister Suvendhu Adhikari Likely To Join BJP On December 18

Kolkata: The stage is set for TMC rebel and former transport minister of West Bengal Suvendhu Adhikari to defect to BJP.

According to sources close the former minister, Adhikari is likely to visit New Delhi on December 17 and formally join the BJP the following day. “Suvendhu Adhikari will join the BJP on December 18. He will also resign from the MLA post before joining the saffron camp. Adhikari is likely to attend the BJP party programme with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at West Midnapore on December 19,” said the sources.

Shah will visit Bengal on December 19 and 20. He will address rallies in three districts, including East Midnapore where Adhikari, his father and two brothers represent two Lok Sabha constituencies and an Assembly seat.

Without naming anyone from the ruling Trinamool Congress, Adhikari on Tuesday said the people who are making personal attacks on him will be extinct after Assembly polls. “Some politicians whom the people have forgotten are playing violent politics and maligning me. They will not be around post Assembly polls,” he said at a public rally in Haldia.

On TMC’s comment that ‘BJP is outsider’, Adhikari said Bengal is part of India and no one is an outsider. “Satish Chandra Samanta who took part in India’s freedom movement was respected by first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Nobody disrespects Bengalis and Bengal is part of the country,” he added.

Speaking to ‘Odisha Bytes’, Central leader and BJP observer for Bengal Arvind Menon said his party is ready to welcome Adhikari. He will strengthen the party in the state, Menon added.

“Adhikari will himself announce when he will join the BJP. The TMC will soon witness migration of many more leaders to the saffron camp because of its wrong policies,” said Kanishka Panda, an Adhikari aide and TMC general secretary from Midnapore, who was expelled from the TMC two days ago.