BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's father, Sisir Adhikari joined the Bhartiya Janata Party on Sunday during Amit Shah's rally at Egra in Purba Medinipur.
After joining BJP, Suvendu Adhikari's father, Sisir Adhikari said, "BJP can save Bengal from atrocities, we are with you, our family is with you. Jai Siya Ram, Jai Bharat."
His son Suvendu Adhikari is facing CM Mamata Banerjee in the fight for the much-hyped Nandigram seat in the upcoming West Bengal election.
Before leaving his house to attend Shah’s meeting, Sisir Kumar Adhikari said, “My son is winning the Nandigram seat and there is no doubt about this. This assembly poll is a battle to save our prestige.”
Hitting out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for calling Suvendu a ‘traitor’, he said, “She is responsible for whatever happened here in Bengal. Now she is branding us as traitors. She is the ‘malkin’ (owner) of the ‘TMC factory’. She can say all these things. But such allegations are not going to bring favourable positions for her. Suvendu is winning from Nandigram. Everybody knows that the results will be in favour of my son.”
BJP's Mansukh Mandviya visited Sisir Adhikari at his residence to invite him to Shah's Egra rally along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's March 24 public meeting at Kanthi in Purba Medinapur.
On March 13, BJP MP from Hooghly and the party's assembly poll candidate from Chunchura Locket Chatterjee had visited the Adhikari residence and had lunch with him.
Speculations were rife that the TMC leader will shift base and joined the saffron party since the time his son Dibyendu hinted about it.
The TMC veteran had previously been removed as chairman of the prestigious Digha-Shankarpur Development Council and president of the Trinamool's district unit.
Suvendu Adhikari joined BJP at a rally of Amit Shah in December last year. His other younger brother Soumendu left TMC to join the saffron party shortly after but their father Sisir Adhikari chose to remain with BJP earlier. A former Union minister under the Manmohan Singh government, he has remained silent during the duels between his son and his boss but now has changed sides and shared the dais with Home Minister Amit Shah.