Adhikari resigned from Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet on Friday, where he was minister in charge of transport, waterways and irrigation, and his resignation was accepted by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. However, he did not resign from the party or resign as a member of the MLA.
All eyes are now on Adhikari’s scheduled meeting in Mahisadal in the Purba Medinipur district on Sunday afternoon.
The BJP, which is elated by the rumors in the TMC, said it is in contact with Adhikari, but nothing has been decided so far regarding his joining the party.
Adhikari, they said, is on good terms with some of the leaders of the saffron field, but talks on his conditions for joining the party have not yet started.
However, the BJP is hopeful that he will switch sides, as he feels he has “few options left”, said a senior BJP leader.
“We have to wait a few more days to get a clear picture,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.
“After resigning as minister, it will be difficult for Adhikari to continue in the TMC. Therefore, the options before him are to create a new party or join the BJP or Congress,” he said.
“It takes a lot of money and human resources to float a new political team, which we don’t think is possible for him at the moment,” he said.
Adhikari’s option to join Congress is less as the party is weak in West Bengal and “so the only option left is the BJP, which we believe is the most beneficial proposition for both of us,” he said.
Meanwhile, TMC MP Saugata Roy who, along with fellow MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, was tasked by the party’s top brass to hold parliaments with Adhikari on their complaints, expressed hope that there will be talks between the two sides.
“The doors are still open for talks with Suvendu. There should be discussions with him. I am hopeful that there will be a dialogue between Suvendu and the party leadership,” Roy said when asked about the retention of the mass leader in the match.
“Suvendu’s mother is ill, so talks may have to wait until she recovers,” said Roy, who also enjoys a cordial relationship with Adhikari’s father and Kanthi MP Sisir Kumar Adhikari.
Two rounds of dialogue between Adhikari and Roy had been inconclusive.
West Bengal’s Chief Minister and Supreme TMC Mamata Banerjee will begin her tour of the district from December 7 with a rally in Purba Medinipur, considered a stronghold of the Adhikari family.
West Bengal BJP Chairman Dilip Ghosh claimed that TMC’s MLAs have lost faith in Banerjee and that their government would soon become a minority in the assembly as many more lawmakers would go straight to resign from the party.
“Didi (Banerjee) has failed in disaster management of the state and is now busy with disaster management of the party,” he said.
Referring to an emergency meeting at the prime minister’s residence after Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation, Ghosh said such meetings will be more frequent as many others have lined up to join the BJP.
Meanwhile, three TMC party offices were reportedly seized by the BJP in Khejuri in the Purba Medinipur district, a day after Adhikari’s resignation.
The district’s BJP leaders said none of their activists were involved in the incidents.
Adhikari was said to be unhappy about the organizational changes at the TMC and the growing influence of election strategist Prashant Kishor and Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek, the Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbor, in the government’s decision-making process. Sources said Adhikari’s departure from the cabinet on Friday is seen as a prelude to the breakdown of his two-decade association with the TMC right-wing since its inception in 1988.
The TMC leadership, which had started side channel talks with him, has now decided to take a “wait and watch” approach and will not initiate further discussions from its end to address his complaints, party sources said.
In addition to his native Purba Medinipur district, Adhikari influences 40-45 assembly segments in the Jangalmahal tribal area comprising the Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram districts and parts of Birbhum and minority-dominated districts of Murshidabad.
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