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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.
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.