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Sisir Adhikari already an MP, need not join BJP, says Ghosh
The comment came amid reports that Adhikari may join the BJP at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Kharagpur on Saturday.
Veteran Bengal politician Sisir Adhikari is already a member of Parliament (MP) so he need not join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party’s state unit chief Dilip Ghosh said on Friday, two days after the 79-year-old leader expressed his desire to quit the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Ghosh, however, added that if Adhikari wanted to join, the party would welcome him.
The comment came amid reports that Adhikari may join the BJP at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Kharagpur on Saturday. Adhikari is the father of heavyweight BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, a former state minister who quit the TMC in December and joined the BJP. Suvendu is one of the leading faces of the BJP’s campaign in the eastern state and is taking on chief minister Mamata Banerjee in his home turf of Nandigram.
“I don’t know whether he [Adhikari] is coming [to BJP]. If he comes, we will welcome him. He is already an MP, so he need not join. He is a veteran leader, and he has to decide what he wants to do. I didn’t have any discussion with him,” Ghosh said. The BJP’s state unit has been roiled by infighting and discontent after a number of TMC turncoats were given tickets in the upcoming state polls. Workers have vandalised party offices, blocked roads and burnt tyres in protest. More than 30 TMC leaders have switched to the BJP since 2019.
On Wednesday, Adhikari, a senior TMC MP from Kanthi in East Midnapore, said that he would will Modi’s rally and campaign for Suvendu, if his son Suvendu asks him to do so. Adhikari’s other son, Dibyendu, is also a TMC MP from Tamluk . The Adhikari family has considerable influence in East Midnapore.
The TMC dismissed the development. “This is like a mystery novel of which the end is known,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
