Jolt To TMC As Disgruntled Leader Subhendu Adhikari Resigns As Transport Minister Ahead Of Bengal Polls

West Bengal transport, irrigation and waterways minister Suvendu Adhikar on Friday tendered resignation from his post to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(File Photo/ Getty)

Kolkata: Days after speculation being rife about possible defecation, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal transport, irrigation and waterways minister Suvendu Adhikar on Friday tendered resignation from his post to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Adhikar quit his cabinet seat a day after resigning as the Chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC). As per reports, the rebel TMC leader sent his resignation letter to Banerjee on Friday morning. The state transport department had on Thursday issued a circular saying that Adhikari was replaced by Trinamool Congress MP from Sreerampore in Kolkata's adjoining Hooghly district Kalyan Banerjee. Over the past few months, political stand of the Trinamool heavyweight from East Midnapore became talk of the town and party insiders said that Adhikari had developed distance with the Trinamool supremo. With high-voltage West Bengal elections barely a few months away, he had also taken out a massive rally in East Midnapore's Khejuri under an apolitical banner this week. Meanwhile, talks between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Adhikari, who has been maintaining a distance from the party, remained inconclusive. Sources close to, Adhikari said he is unhappy with the organisational rejig effected a few months ago. They said he was not comfortable with the idea of scrapping the post of the district observer as he was party's in-charge in various districts. Although both Adhikari and the TMC top brass remained tight-lipped about his resignation from the HRBC, a senior TMC leader said "A war of nerves has begun between the leadership and Adhikari". In 2007, Adhikari had mobilised an anti-land acquisition movement against a proposed chemical hub project by Indonesia-based Salim Growp at Nandigram. The protest was organised under the banner of Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), which saw spiralling protests and bloodshed between disgruntled villagers and CPI-M cadres and the police.