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Ex-TMC minister Suvendu Adhikari becomes leader of the opposition in Bengal
Only 22 BJP MLAs supported Adhikari’s nomination for the post but the party said the decision was unanimous.
After serving in chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year and defeated her at Nandigram in East Midnapore district in the recent state polls, on Monday emerged as the leader of the opposition at the state assembly.
“As the leader of the opposition, my priority will be to carry out a movement to free Bengal of political violence and establish a parliamentary democracy. The killings and arson must stop,” said Adhikari.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) routed the opposition by winning 213 seats but Adhikari made news by defeating Banerjee by around 1,900 votes. Challenging the result, the TMC demanded recounting of votes but the Election Commission (EC) turned it down.
Adhikari, who underwent training at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) camps in his youth, started his career as a youth Congress leader before joining the TMC under the guidance of his father Sisir Adhikari, the TMC’s Contai Lok Sabha member who joined the BJP recently.
BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy, one of the founding members of the TMC and now a BJP national vice-president, proposed Adhikari’s name for the post of leader of the opposition when the BJP’s newly-elected legislators met at the party’s election office at Hastings in south Kolkata on Monday afternoon. Of the 77 BJP MLAs, 52 were present at the meeting while the rest were in their constituencies in the districts.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”hi” dir=”ltr”>पश्चिम बंगाल में श्री <a href=”https://twitter.com/SuvenduWB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@SuvenduWB</a> जी को विधानसभा में प्रतिपक्ष का नेता चुने जाने पर हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं।<br>मुझे पूर्ण विश्वास है कि आप के नेतृत्व में <a href=”https://twitter.com/BJP4Bengal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@BJP4Bengal</a> विपक्ष की जिम्मेदारी को पूरी मजबूती के साथ निभाएगी और प्रदेश की जनता के लिए न्याय और अधिकार प्राप्त करने का माध्यम बनेगी।</p>— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) <a href=”https://twitter.com/JPNadda/status/1391757072316784640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8”></script>
Since Roy is senior to Adhikari and he won the polls from Krishnanagar in Nadia district, many leaders in the party thought he would be elected leader of the opposition. While arriving for the meeting, Roy brushed aside the speculations, saying, “I am too old.”
“Twenty-two MLAs supported Suvendu Adhikari’s nomination. I asked the others if they wanted to propose any other name. Since there was no other nomination, Adhikari was unanimously elected leader of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal assembly,” announced Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who, along with the BJP’s central election observers, attended the meeting.
Manoj Tigga, who won the Natabari seat in north Bengal for the second time, was elected the BJP’s chief whip in the assembly.
Asked why only 22 of the 52 BJP MLAs supported Adhikari’s nomination, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, “He was unanimously elected. Even those who are the districts told us that they would accept the party’s decision.”
Adding to this, Adhikari said, “The fact that no other name was proposed means the decision was unanimous. All wings of the BJP and people supported the nomination.”
TMC leaders did not want to comment on one of their former colleagues becoming the leader of the opposition.
Kolkata-based political science professor and poll analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay said, “Adhikari joined the BJP five months ago. His becoming leader of the opposition may demoralise many leaders who worked hard for years and helped the saffron camp grow in Bengal.”
Adhikari became a legislator for the first time in 2006 and was later elected to the Lok Sabha. He was also made president of the TMC’s youth wing but Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee replaced him in 2014. His younger brother Dibyendu Adhikari is the TMC’s Lok Sabha member from Tamluk. The youngest sibling, Soumendu, headed the Contai civic body before joining the saffron camp in January.
Polls were held in 292 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats. Polls at two seats in the Murshidabad district will be held later as two opposition party candidates died of Covid-19 during the unprecedented eight-phase polling held between March 27 and April 29.
