Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Suvendu Adhikari, known for expressing his disappointment for not being given position as other senior members in the party, has hit out again on Saturday.

Staying true to his style, he delivered the message subtly between the words he spoke at an event in a college in West Bengal’s Nandigram.

Reminiscing his college days and his journey to a political heavyweight, Adhikari said, “I had started my college in 1985. First year I wondered what to do and in next year I became a CR (class representative) and Games Secretary. I passed my 12th in 1987. Took admission in Accountancy honours in 1988 and became the General Secretary that year itself.”

“In 1995, I became a councillor after contesting for the undivided Congress. I haven’t used a lift to go up or a parachute to come down. I have taken each and every step alone,” the Minister in Charge of Transport, Irrigation and Water resource in Govt. of West Bengal added as quoted by Bengali portal The Wall.

One of the architects of TMC’s Nandigram revolution, the 49-year-old MLA is still a major force of the party’s ground-level organisation in the state. Many Consider the Nandigram representative as second biggest crowd puller of TMC after Mamata Banerjee herself.

However, as has been the norm with TMC, Banerjee has never allowed anyone to come near her in terms of matching the political aura. Instead of giving him a senior leadership role, Adhikari has been kept in check ever since the reports of his despondency started to emerge.

Bengali media is filled reports of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to poach him. Even though Adhikari has never hinted about switching to the saffron camp, his strife with Abhishek Banerjee is an open secret

Earlier this week, a quote from Swami Vivekananda by Adhikari had reportedly sparked a fresh round of rumour-mongering in West Bengal’s politics.

At a women’s welfare event in East Midnapore’s New Digha, Adhikari had said, “Why am I praising all of you today? Because nothing is achieved on a solo effort. Swami Vivekananda has said: ‘This “me and mine” is the very root of all the evil in the world’. Only those who practice we and us, can survive.”

The messages he has been delivering are being seen by many as tactics to pressurise TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to get his deserving place in the party.