Suvendu Adhikari, government minister Mamata Banerjee, spoke at rallies in West Bengal
Calcutta:
On Tuesday, when all eyes are on the results of the Bihar Assembly elections, West Bengal’s attention will be divided between Patna and the town of Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, 131 km south of Kolkata.
Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari will speak there at a mega rally, significantly, not under the Trinamool Congress banner, without the party flags and without the portraits of its leader Mamata Banerjee on places.
His posters are also up in many other districts – Purulia, Nadia, Murshidabad, East Midnapore – with no indication of his association with the Trinamool Congress or the TMC.
Lately, it has been the model of all of Mr. Adhikari’s gatherings that is stoking rumors of his imminent exit from Trinamool Congress.
Recently, in Contai de Purba Medinipur, worshipers lined up to sign their names, as a token of their continued support, on strategically placed banners with the photos of Mr. Adhikari.
Mr Adhikari is known to be unhappy that Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee – the chief minister’s nephew – was the party’s anonymous prince, while he, who tore Nandigram from the left in 2007-08 and led the way to Trinamool to gain power in the party. state, is nowhere in the hierarchy.
Mamata Banerjee’s nephew replaced Mr. Adhikari as leader of the TMC Youth Congress in 2011.
“I was neither dropped nor automatically climbed through the ranks,” Mr. Adhikari said during a rally in Nandigram on October 31. “I climbed step by step,” he added in a sharp search on Mr. Banerjee. .
The finger pointing was not the first time. Mr. Adhikari attacked the TMC without taking any names.
“You will learn to ride a bike much faster if you fall off it several times. If people hold the bike while pedaling, it will take a long time to learn,” he said last week.
Now the signals are that he can speak even more clearly to Nandigram on November 10, although he can anticipate his departure from Trinamool a few weeks later.
Mr. Adhikari himself has remained in solitary confinement with messages on his phone and unanswered calls.
Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee is one of the few party leaders to have spoken about Mr. Adhikari. “It doesn’t matter where he holds his rallies. They are rallies for Trinamool. He is an integral part of the Trinamool Congress and a dear leader,” Banerjee told Hooghly on Sunday.
But on Sunday, in Haldia Township in East Midnapore District – Mr. Adhikari’s homeland – female TMC workers loyal to him took to the streets to demand action against his city leader Deb Prasad Mandal. They claimed that he made obscene phone calls to a party worker.
Mr. Mandal belongs to a camp opposed to that of Mr. Adhikari. His supporters also took to the streets and clashed with followers of Mr. Adhikari, with police called in to restore calm.
Analysts monitoring related developments believe Mr Adhikari’s exit could come at a cost to Trinamool Congress. He is one of the few party leaders to have their own influence and win an election without the Trinamool symbol. He also has a large organizational network and his departure could inspire others to follow suit.
Besides dissatisfaction with the party hierarchy, Suvendu Adhikari may also have other constraints to resign. He is named in the Narada case and could seek refuge with the BJP, just like Mukul Roy, once a close associate of Mamata Banerjee, and now national secretary of the BJP.
State Assembly elections are due next year, with the BJP seeking to wrest power from two-term chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
