Mamata Banerjee’s ‘man Friday’ the West Bengal transport minister Suvendu Adhikari’s exit from the party is final. He has resigned from the cabinet and key posts. Sources close to Adhikary said Suvendu would soon join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lock, stock and barrel.
Nandigram and Singur land battles had catapulted Mamata to her present position in 2011. Now both the places are ready to leave her hand. Suvendu was Mamata’s key hand in Nandigram that helped her build a base in West Bengal.
Negotiations to thwart Suvendu’s move had failed as senior Trinamool leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy returned empty-handed in their efforts to convince and dissuade him.
On the condition of anonymity, party insiders said Suvendu’s defection could lead to a massive exodus from the party in the coming days just before the assembly elections in West Bengal in April-May 2021.
Insiders said almost 14 Trinamool leaders are waiting on the wings to shift parties. They include some big names from Kolkata, Coochbehar and Howrah.
His departure is expected to inflict further casualties on TMC in Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur alongside Jangal Mahal (West Midnapore), Purulia and Bankura district. Suvendu has a strong base and following in five of the 23 districts of the state. The party had appointed Adhikary as an observer to build the base in these districts.
With the possible exit of Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee’s base in South Bengal will receive its biggest shock in ten years. Suvendu `move out’ indication became evident when his close confidante Siraj Khan recently joined BJP a few days ago.
For the past two months, Suvendu Adhikari had been skipping all state cabinet and party meetings and was delivering sarcastic statements against the party and its supremo Mamata Banerjee in public forums.
Unable to bear Suvendu Adhikari’s sarcastic digs and comments Mamata Banerjee had removed him from some key posts. Suvendu had sarcastically indicated that he was not willing to operate under a ‘dictator’ like Mamata Banerjee any more without taking her name.
There are also tame rumours that Adhikary will float his own party before the elections and then merge with the BJP post-elections. Some feel it would be a logical and wise move. It will be similar to what the late state Congress President Somen Mitra did in July 2008 when he left the Congress and formed a new political outfit Pragatisheel Indira Congress. PIC merged with Trinamool Congress in October 2009.
Either way, it is almost sure that Suvendu will soon leave Trinamool. In November 2018 Trinamool lost its ‘Organisation Man’ Mukul Roy to BJP. Two years down the line in November 2020 Trinamool is all set to lose its ‘Mass Man’ Suvendu Adhikary to BJP.
The latest loss will be massive for Mamata Banerjee as it could turn the table in the upcoming Assembly elections in favour of BJP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections BJP swept 43 per cent of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats by winning 18 of them. It seems Bengal is ready to see another change of political guards at the hustings by May 2021.
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