“You will be left alone when Bengal goes to the polls,” Shah said, alluding to Mamata, at a rally in Midnapore, considered the stronghold of Adikari.
Of the MLA recruits, two were from the Left Front and one from Congress. Two-time East Burdwan MP Sunil Mondal completed BJP’s earnings day at Trinamool’s expense.
Arch-Rebel Adhikari had traveled to Midnapore from Calcutta along with Shah in the latter’s helicopter. “No one from the party I served for 22 years called me when I was quarantined at home after contracting Covid. Shah called me twice. MukuldaMukul roy, who joined BJP from Trinamool in 2017) used to tell me that I couldn’t stay at that party with respect for myself, ”he said.
After accepting the BJP flag from Shah, Adhikari stressed the need for Bengal to scrap the left’s “anti-center narrative” and Trinamool in favor of center-state synergy. “I think both Kolkata and Delhi should have governments under Modiji’s party for the sake of Bengal’s development,” he said.
Countering Trinamool’s “traitor” label for Adhikari with Trinamool’s story, Shah said: “I didWhat did you do when you left Congress to form Trinamool? ”
The Union Interior Minister accused the Trinamool government of resorting to “the politics of fear” to stay in power. “More than 300 BJP workers have been killed. They threw stones at the convoy of BJP national president JP Nadda. Didi thought we would surrender. We will not,” he said.
Shah had visited the family of freedom fighter Shahid Khudiram Bose before arriving on the Midnapore College grounds, indicating a determination to shed the “outsider” label that Trinamool has placed on the central leadership of BJP.
Adhikari reminded his critics that Trinamool could not have survived without the support of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Trinamool was part of the NDA then.”
He urged TMC workers to join him in rescuing Bengal from the “crossroads”, saying that “personal interests take precedence over public interest” in his former party. The former minister was particularly scathing in his criticism of Mamata’s nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, calling him “tolabaj bhaipo (extortionist nephew).”
Explaining the change in his political stance, he said: “A friend from Trinamool texted me on Friday, pointing out that I had raised the slogan ‘BJP hatao, desh bachao’ prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. I sent him a message saying I sincerely work wherever I am. I was with Trinamool then. Now when I have joined the BJP, I will work 16 hours for the party.
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