It was rumoured that Suvendu Adhikari would defect to BJP from the conference on Sunday. However, no report about that has emerged yet.
Suvendu Adhikari (file image)
The much-talked-about press conference of rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday has been cancelled.
If reports in Bengali media are to be believed, it was anticipated that he would defect to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) infront of the press. However, no report about that has emerged yet.
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Adhikari’s close aide, Kanishka Panda, has informed that the former Minister in charge of Transport, Irrigation and Water resource in Government of West Bengal did not have anything specific to reveal on Sunday, reported Bengali channel ABP Ananda.
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Panda was also seen alleging TMC of building a false narrative about Adhikari’s departure from the party. “The party has not yet asked us to leave. The day they do, we will not wait for a moment,” he said.
Adhikari has been a hotshot political property in West Bengal ever since he started a rebellion against his own party. He had been expressing his disenchantment with TMC with indirect jibes at “apolitical” meetings and rallies for some time now.
However, following the dramatic developments earlier this week, it is believed that the Nandigram MLA’s exit from TMC is just a matter of time.
Despite an “ice-breaking” meeting between him, Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishor, Adhikari had texted party veteran Saugata Roy saying “Forgive me, it won’t be possible for me to continue”.
He is believed to have said that he was unhappy how TMC did not pay any heed to find solution to his problems and instead imposed the party’s decision on him. He did not want to reveal anything about the meeting before his press conference on December 6.
According to reports in Bengali media, TMC has now given up on its once-heavyweight youth leader and has “closed the doors” for him. “Now, if Suvendu Adhikari changes his mind, it’s up to him and he will inform what he intends to do,” Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy had said after receiving Adhikari’s text message.
One of the architects of TMC’s Nandigram revolution, Adhikari, 49, is still a major force of the party’s ground-level organisation in the state. Suvendu’s departure from TMC could be fateful for West Bengal’s governning party in next year’s election.
Hinting at his possible exit from the party, Adhikari, the former youth Secretary of TMC, has already resigned from the West Bengal cabinet and other portfolios that he held.
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