Following the footsteps of his elder brother and former Trinamool Congress heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari , Soumendu Adhikari too joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday.
Mr. Soumendu Adhikari, who was the administrator of Contai Municipality till recently joined the BJP with 14 Trinamool Congress councilors of the civic body located in Purba Medinipur district. Contai Municipality, which is also referred as Kanthi Muncipality, has 21 councilors.
Only a few days back, the West Bengal government removed Mr. Soumendu Adhikari from the post of administrator to the civic body.
Mr. Soumendu Adhikari was formally welcomed in the BJP at a public event in Purba Medinipur by his elder brother Mr. Suvendu Adhikari.
Speaking to journalists Mr. Soumendu Adhikari said that he has taken the path chosen by his brother and the decision of the State government to remove him as the administrator of the civic body will be reversed after Assembly polls. “The TMC will have a price for targeting the Adhikari family”, he said. Mr. Suvendu Adhikari to described his brother's removal a “vindictive move”.
Two members of the Adhikari family — Sisir Adhikari and Dibyendu Adhikari — are Lok Sabha MPs from Purba Medinipur district. Mr. Suvendu Adhikari has given hints that all the members of his family will join BJP.
Importance of the Adhikari family
Speaking a public rally during the day, Mr. Suvendu Adhikari trained his guns on Trinamool Congress and said that the party has turned into a private company. Mr Adhikari claimed the TMC would always come second in the elections in Purba Medinpur district until his family joined the party.
"People will vote in favour of the BJP, be it the civic polls or the Assembly elections. The BJP will be the frontrunner in Contai South and other places where it had been trailing in the last Lok Sabha polls," Mr Adhikari said.
In an oblique reference to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew MP Abhishek Banerjee, Mr. Adhikar also said that the TMC has been reduced to “one- and a half-person enterprise”.
The Trinamool Congress leadership said that the party had anticipated well in advance that Mr. Soumendu Adhikari will join the BJP and hence he was removed from the administrator of the civic body.
“He (Suvendu Adhikari) is new in the BJP and will have to make such attacks to stay relevant in the party,” TMC leader and State’s Minister Partha Chatterjee remarked.
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