Bengal Elections: Another Jolt to Mamata As Suvendu Adhikari's Brother Soumendu Joins BJP

Soumendu Adhikari had recently been removed from the post of administrator at Contai Municipality by the Mamata Banerjee government.

Image Courtesy: @BJP4Bengal

Bengal Elections 2021: Following the path of brother Suvendu Adhikari, who left the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and joined the BJP recently, Soumendu Adhikari too joined the saffron party in East Midnapore on Friday. Soumendu joined BJP with 14 other TMC Councillors. Soumendu had recently been removed from the post of administrator at Contai Municipality by the Mamata Banerjee government. Suvendu Adhikar said, "Soumendu's removal was a "vindictive move" on the part of the state government".

"Soumendu has a long political career ahead of him. He has worked hard all these years... and the same goes for the other councillors. The Adhikari family is no longer with the party of Pishi-Bhaipo (TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and nephew Abhishek Banerjee)," he said.

The former minister also said that Banerjee's government had been delaying municipal polls, as it was scared of its "imminent defeat".

Lotus will bloom in every home: Soumendu

Soumendu had told reporters that "his family had been enduring many unsavoury attacks. But we believe in giving a befitting reply on the battlefield".

Asserting that the TMC, of which he was a part till about a month ago, will disintegrate soon, Adhikari, during a meeting earlier in the day in Purba Medinipur, claimed that Soumendu, together with a few councillors and 5,000 TMC workers, will switch over to the saffron party.

তৃণমূলের অপশাসনকে দূর করতে কাঁথি সাংগঠনিক জেলার কাঁথি ডরমিটরি ময়দানে শ্রী সৌমেন্দু অধিকারী সহ ১৫জন পৌরপিতা ও পৌরমাতা এবং প্রায় পাঁচ হাজার কর্মী তৃণমূল ও অন্যান্য দল ছেড়ে ভারতীয় জনতা পার্টিতে যোগদান করলেন।

সকলকে স্বাগত বিজেপি পরিবারে। #AmarPoribarBJPPoribar pic.twitter.com/aBbRYJkVbd — BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) January 1, 2021

Meanwhile, his father Sisir Adhikari and another brother Dibyendu are TMC MPs and have not given any indication of leaving the TMC. Claiming that at least one lakh people will attend his rally in Nandigram on January 8, Suvendu told his supporters to give him a call if any one of them faces blockade on the way to the meeting.