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After being branded a traitor by TMC, Suvendu Adhikari to hold rally in hometown
This would be his first rally in East Midnapore after he joined the BJP on December 19 at union home minister Amit Shah’s rally
A day after the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) branded Suvendu Adhikari, a former TMC heavyweight and minister who defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a traitor and targeted his family at a rally at Contai, his hometown in Bengal’s East Midnapore district, he is set to hold a rally at the same place on Thursday.
This would be his first rally in East Midnapore after he joined the BJP on December 19 at union home minister Amit Shah’s rally.
On Tuesday, Adhikari addressed his first rally as a BJP leader in Burdwan district. BJP’s youth president in the state Saumitra Khan, who recently filed a divorce suit against his wife Sujata Mondol Khan after she switched over to the TMC, would also be present at Adhikari’s rally.
Both the TMC and the BJP are desperately trying to show their strength in the district, which was considered to be the bastion of the TMC, more so of the Adhikari family.
Also Read: After joining BJP, Suvendu Adhikari called ‘traitor’ in hometown by TMC
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is expected to hold another rally at Nandigram in the same district on January 7, 2021.
Adhikari and his family have played a key role in the growth of the TMC in East Midnapore. The Contai and Tamluk Lok Sabha seats, most of the assembly segments and many local bodies here have been controlled by 78-year-old Sisir Adhikari and his three sons since 2009.
Sisir Adhikari, his father, is the sitting TMC MP from Contai. Dibyendu Adhikari, his brother, is the MP from Tamluk. His youngest brother Soumendu Adhikari is the chairman of Kanthi municipality. No member of the Adhikari family, however, attended the TMC rally in East Midnapore on Wednesday.
“Akhil Giri (TMC lawmaker from Ramnagar and a known detractor of Adhikari) had sent invitation letters to everyone. If someone doesn’t attend then it is up to them,” said Saugata Roy, TMP MP.
A two-time former Lok Sabha member with an impressive fan following among party workers, Suvendu Adhikari, 50, is acknowledged as one of the leaders who helped TMC chief Mamata Banerjee galvanise the anti-land acquisition movement at Nandigram in East Midnapore district during the Left Front rule. The two-year-long movement became a key factor in the CPI(M)’s ouster in 2011.
On Wednesday, before the TMC rally, there was a clash between the BJP and the TMC workers in the district’s Ramnagar area.
