Leader of the Opposition of the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said all in the Left parties are not bad and many Left supporters had voted for him in the 2021 Assembly election.
Interestingly, the praise for Left parties by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA comes on the day when Mr. Adhikari held a public meeting to mourn the 2007 killing of 14 persons during the protests against a proposed chemical hub. Mr. Adhikari was with the Trinamool Congress in 2007 and also have a key figure in the fight against the forcible land acquisition in 2007 during the Left Front government.
“The Left Front was much more powerful than the Trinamool now, they had 235 seats (in the State Assembly),” Mr. Adhikari said at the public meeting. He asserted that many Left supporters have joined him. This is not the first time that the BJP leader has tried to reach out supporters of Left parties.
The remarks by the BJP MLA come at a time when State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is alleging an understanding between “Ram and Bam”. The leaders of the Left parties distanced themselves from the remarks and said that do not want any certificate from Mr. Adhikari.
“Mr. Adhikari was a top Trinamool leader who has joined BJP. The Left parties do not need his certificate,” CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said. Mr. Chakraborty also added that when the leaders of the BJP and the Trinamool are seeing the Left flag flying high they are trying to appropriate the Left supporters.
Reacting to Mr. Adhikari’s remarks, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the miscreants of CPI(M) have now joined the BJP. “Suvendu Adhikari has done a great disservice to the people of Nandigram by joining hands with those who were behind the armed atrocities on peaceful anti-land grab protesters,” Mr. Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool and the BJP exchanged barbs over observing ‘martyrs day’ at Nandigram. “Some people who had no role in the anti-land acquisition stir are now hogging the limelight and making speeches,” Mr. Adhikari said reacting to Mr. Ghosh remarks.
