Unaware whether TMC chief Suvendu Adhikari will join BJP: Dilip Ghosh

Kolkata: Amid speculation over the future move of senior Trinamool Congress leader Suvendu Adhikari, BJP's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh on Friday said he is unaware whether the state Transport minister will join the saffron party or not. In a recent rally at Nandigram held by Adhikari to pay respect to members of Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Land Eviction Resistance Committee) who were killed in police firing during the anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007, the Trinamool Congress leader had said that he will announce his next course of action from a political platform.

Adhikari had also taken a dig at party colleagues for visiting Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district after a gap of 13 years before the 2021 state polls.

Claiming that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is going through an "upheaval", Ghosh said that many of its leaders are leaving the party.


"The party in power is splitting and such a situation at the top level has caused consternation among workers," he said.

Amid such a situation, attempts are being made by the TMC to rope in people from other parties, the BJP leader said.

"When the TMC itself is going through tumultuous times, who will join it?" the BJP leader told newspersons here.

Asked whether Adhikari, who has been holding rallies at different places for the last several days without the TMC's banner, will join the saffron party, Ghosh said, "people are saying so, but I am not aware whether he will join the BJP or not".

Adhikari did not attend a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this week.

Adhikari, who holds the Transport and Environment portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, holds a considerable clout in Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and some other parts of south Bengal.

He was the backbone of the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram that played a crucial role in Mamata Banerjee romping to power in the state in 2011 defeating the Left Front.

The transport minister's father Sisir Adhikari is a member of Parliament from Kanthi, while his brother Dibyendu Adhikari is an MP from neighbouring Tamluk. Another brother Soumendu Adhikari is the chairman of Kanthi Municipality.