Kolkata: Having quit as transport minister of West Bengal earlier, Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday resigned from the legislative assembly.
Adhikari’s dissociation with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to have set alarm bells ringing in the state’s ruling party.
Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged at a public rally in Cooch Behar that BJP central leaders are in touch with stalwarts in her party like Subrata Bakshi and Anubrata Mandal, the strong man of Birbhum.
“Imagine the audacity of BJP leaders, they are calling up state president of TMC and asking him to join the saffron camp. BJP doesn’t have any ideology or political courtesy. They are using money bags and some opportunists, who only work for their own benefit, are joining them. We will not let them win,” Mamata said.
According to BJP insiders, Adhikari is in talk with several disgruntled leaders of TMC and will take them along with him into the saffron fold.
Adhikari was instrumental in turning the tide in favour of TMC in Midnapore, which was once considered to be a Left Front citadel. Adhikari’s followers claim that he was the face of TMC’s Singur and Nandigram movement that ultimately led to the fall of the Left Front government in 2011.
Suvendu’s father Sisir Adhikari, two-time Trinamool MP, had fought alone during the 1980s during the Left Front regime and sealed his entry into the legislative assembly from undivided Midnapore as a Congress candidate.
Sisir’s influence gradually increased after that and he joined the TMC during the Singur and Nandigram movement. That made it easier for Suvendu to make his presence felt in Midnapore.
Even after the division of the district into East and West Midnapore, Suvendu’s influence kept growing, and especially so in West Midnapore from where one of his brothers is a sitting MLA of TMC and another an MP.
The Adhikaris obviously have a strong hold on the electorate in the district.
Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty called it a “watershed moment” in Bengal politics.
“Suvendu is the only one in recent times who quit all his positions before leaving the party. Along with political ethics, he also proved that he can mobilise people without staying in any position. He is a great organiser too. If a politically influential person like him leaves, it is a genuine loss for both Mamata Banerjee and the TMC,” Chakraborty remarked.
