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BJP picks Suvendu Adhikari as Bengal leader of Opposition
“As leader of the opposition my first priority will be to carry out a movement to free Bengal of political violence and establish parliamentary democracy. The killings and arson must stop,” said Suvendhu Adhikari.
Suvendu Adhikari, the Nandigram strongman who defeated his former mentor Mamata Banerjee in the recent assembly elections in West Bengal, will now face off against her as leader of the opposition in the state assembly .
Adhikari joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in December, defecting from the Trinamool Congress, and his win in Nandigram was one of the few bright spots for the former in an election in which it hoped to win at least 200 seats and unseat Banerjee, but eventually ended up winning only 77.
The TMC won 213, and while Banerjee, who lost to Adhikari by a margin of 1,900 votes demanded a recount, this was turned down by the Election Commission.
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 in 1998.
“As leader of the opposition my first priority will be to carry out a movement to free Bengal of political violence and establish parliamentary democracy. The killings and arson must stop,” said Adhikari.
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His reference is to a spate of violence that has swept the state, with TMC workers allegedly targetting the political opposition, primarily the BJP but also Left Front workers.
BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy, one of the founder 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.
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. But Roy brushed aside the speculations, saying, “I am too old.” Roy is 67, and Adhikari, 51.
“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 minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who attended the meeting with the BJP’s central election observers.
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 in the districts told us that they would accept the party’s decision.”
TMC leaders declined comment on one of their former colleagues becoming 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 (in the BJP) who worked hard for years and helped the party 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 BJP in January.
Polls were held in 292 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats. Polls at two seats in Murshidababd district will be held later as two candidates died of Covid-19 during the polls, held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29.
