A day after rebel leader Suvendu Adhikari’s departure from the party, five Trinamool Congress (TMC) block secretaries in West Bengal’s Maldah resigned on Thursday.

The pro-Suvendu Adhikari party workers tendred their resignation to TMC’s district leadership in Maldah – secretary Mausam Noor, chairman Mohajjeb Hossain and district coordinator Dulal Sarkar – reported ABP Ananda.

The development comes at a time when West Bengal’s governning party finds itself in muddy water with reports emerging that Adhikari would ensure defection of at least 50-60 MLAs and MPs to BJP.

Adhikari on Wednesday submitted his resignation as MLA of the Nandigram constituency to the West Bengal assembly secretary. He had already resigned from the state cabinet last month.

He has been maintaining distance with the party leadership for quite some time. Adhikari is likely to join BJP on December 19 in the presence of Amit Shah, who is all set to visit West Bengal for a two-day tour later this week.

Even though his defection to the hindutva brigade is almost certain, Adhikari will travel to New Delhi on Thursday for “a final round of talks” with BJP’s central leadership before putting on his papers as a TMC legislator.

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.

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.

His exit will, in all likelihood, be fateful for West Bengal’s governning party in next year’s assembly polls the in Midnapore belt.

Meanwhile, after submitting the resignation on Wednesday Adhikari travelled to Burdwan to meet TMC MP from Sunil Mondal, who has aired voice against the Mamata Banerjee-led party in recent times.

Another rebel TMC leader Jitendra Tiwari, MLA of Pandeshwar constituency, also attended the meeting at Mondal’s residence, firing up speculations that Adhikari would enter the hindutva foray with these two.