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Dissent in TMC official, Suvendu Adhikari quits as MLA
The move has led to speculation that Amit Shah’s visit to the state this weekend may be marked by defections to the BJP.
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Dissidence within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) became official on Wednesday when former cabinet minister Suvendu Adhikari resigned from the West Bengal assembly and held a closed-door meeting with some rebel lawmakers for the first time, triggering speculation that Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state this weekend could be marked by defections to the BJP.
Shah will address rallies and party workers in three districts on December 19 and 20.
Adhikari and the rebels assembled 165km away from Kolkata, at the residence of the TMC’s Burdwan East Lok Sabha MP Sunil Mandal. Asansol city’s outgoing mayor and legislator from West Burdwan district’s Pandabeswar, Jitendra Tiwari, and dissident leaders from at least three districts attended the meeting. They did not make any announcement till the time of going to press.
Adhikari also wrote a letter to governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in the evening, seeking protection and expressing fear that he and his associates may be implicated by the police and the administration in “criminal cases out of political motivation and vendetta”.
Adhikari did not say a word to the media but Dhankhar tweeted, “Suvendu Adhikari former minister @MamataOfficial has by way of representation sought my intervention so that police @WBPolice @KolkataPolice and administration are dissuaded from implicating him and associates in criminal cases out of political vendetta. Taking expected steps.”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was on a three-day tour of north Bengal, called up Tiwari during the day and asked him not to take any drastic steps till she returns to Kolkata and meets him on Friday, TMC leaders said.
Tiwari has accused urban development minister Firhad Hakim and the government of depriving Asansol of central funds meant for development.
Adhikari resigned from the legislative assembly around 4pm on Wednesday, 18 days after quitting the cabinet in which he held three departments.
He represented East Midnapore district’s Nandigram seat where a long land movement helped TMC chief Mamata Banerjee oust the Left Front government in 2011.
Adhikari went to the assembly house and submitted a handwritten letter at the secretariat since the speaker, Biman Banerjee, was not present in his office. The letter raised several technical questions since Adhikari did not put any date on it and did not write or sign it before the speaker, something anti-defection rules of the assembly demand.
“I have not received any letter. The secretary has no authority to accept an MLA’s resignation letter. I have to review the matter,” the speaker said in the evening.
The dissidents started speaking out in different districts of south Bengal since Tuesday, hours after the chief minister addressed rallies in north Bengal where the BJP won seven of the region’s eight Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
On Wednesday, while Banerjee headed for more rallies in north Bengal, several lawmakers in south Bengal, where the BJP did not do so well in the Lok Sabha polls, raised a voice against organisational decisions and election strategist Prashant Kishor.
Mandal, the two-time Lok Sabha MP from Burdwan East constituency, which was one of the strongest citadels of the Marxists till he wrested the seat in 2014, told local media that the TMC needs reforms. The rebel leaders met at his home in Kanksa.
Questioning the necessity of Kishor and his company, I-Pac, Mandal said, “Is it acceptable that those of us who worked on the ground among people and rose from the ranks have to take instructions from paid employees of I-Pac on where and how to hold processions? People of Bengal are sensitive and intelligent. Processions do not ensure votes.” Posters appeared in his support in several parts of East Burdwan.
Statements against the TMC leadership were also made by Dipak Haldar, the legislator from Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district and Biswajit Kundu, the legislator from Kalna in East Burdwan district.
Adhikari’s aides said he may join the BJP on December 19 or, he may do so on December 18 as he had plans to fly to Delhi on Thursday.
Adhikari, his father and two brothers represent two Lok Sabha constituencies and an assembly seat in East Midnapore. They also run the civic body at Contai, their hometown.
“The entire Adhikari family will eventually join the BJP. It is only a matter of time,” said a senior TMC leader who did not want to be named.
Reacting to Adhikari’s resignation from the assembly, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said the rebel leader would be welcomed when he joins the BJP.
Saugata Roy, the TMC Lok Sabha member who held reconciliatory talks with Adhikari, said, “Suvendu is taking one step at a time before joining the BJP. This is not unexpected for us.”
The developments took place while the chief minister addressed people and party leaders in north Bengal.
“People cannot change their character every day. You can change clothes every day but not idealism. Do you, the common people, have faith in me? Those who are with the party since its birth are still there. A few of those who joined us later are leaving. It will not make any difference,” Banerjee said at a rally in Cooch Behar.
Mihir Goswami, the TMC legislator from the Cooch Behar South seat, joined the BJP last month. In a parallel development, forest minister Rajib Banerjee’s followers put up more posters in different districts, including East Midnapore.
The minister, too, made significant statements at a public programme on Tuesday. Without naming the TMC, he said he had been deprived.
