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Suvendu Adhikari, family skip Mamata Banerjee’s mega rally, she accuses BJP of trying to break TMC
Suvendu Adhikari recently quit as a minister and said it was difficult for him to work with the TMC leadership. Attempts were made by the party leaders to pacify Adhikari, but the stalemate is continuing.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to break her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), using money power. The allegations were made at a rally in West Midnapore after influential TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari and his family gave it a miss.
“All TMC MLAs of West Midnapore are present here today. I want to tell those who spread canards against TMC leaders that we are the most honest party. We are not like the BJP which is using its moneybags to dislodge opposition-run governments in states and trying to break opposition parties,” Banerjee said while addressing the rally on Monday.
Calling the TMC “a hard nut to crack” that will not surrender before the saffron party, Banerjee, without naming anyone, said she would also not give in to attempts to “blackmail and bargain” her party ahead of the polls.
“Those who are corrupt are now joining the BJP. CPI(M) goons now have switched sides and are working as cadres of the BJP,” she alleged.
This was Banerjee’s first rally in West Midnapore district after Adhikari resigned from the state cabinet, widening his rift with the ruling party. It was meant to test waters in the district where Adhikari has a support base; his hometown is located in the neighbouring East Midnapore district.
Adhikari recently quit as a minister and said it was difficult for him to work with the TMC leadership. Attempts were made by the party leaders to pacify Adhikari, but the stalemate is continuing.
Banerjee had recently issued a stern warning to those indulging in anti-party activities and asked TMC leaders in touch with the opposition to quit the ruling party instead of weakening it.
Adhikari had last week organised a rally without the TMC banners and flags at Garbeta in West Midnapore district.
Soon after Adhikari started distancing himself from the ruling party, the BJP began flexing its muscles in the state. On Saturday, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh held a rally in Wast Midnapore district. On Monday, the party tried to hold a protest march to Uttar Kanya, the branch of state secretariat at Siliguri in north Bengal, as part of the BJP’s ongoing agitation programmes against the TMC government.
In 2019 bypolls, the ruling TMC made impressive gains in the assembly constituencies of Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur and Kharagpur in West Midnapore. Adhikari, who was the party’s in-charge of five of the state’s 23 districts, was credited for the success.
The Adhikari family wields influence over at least 40-45 assembly seats in West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram, parts of Birbhum - mainly in the Junglemahal region and areas in minority-dominated Murshidabad.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are likely to be held in April-May next year.
