Taking the fight against Suvendu Adhikari to his constituency, Nandigram, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abishek Banerjee on Saturday dubbed his former party colleague who joined the BJP two months ago as a “traitor” and “Mir Jafar”, and dared him to contest against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the constituency.
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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced last month that she would contest from Nandigram, weeks after Mr. Adhikari, one of the most prominent TMC leaders, joined the BJP. After her announcement, Mr. Adhikari promised to defeat her with a margin of 50,000 votes but did not specify whether he wants to contest from the seat or not.
Nandigram, which witnessed a violent struggle against forcible land acquisition in the Left Front regime, was among the many factors that catapulted the TMC to power in 2011. Mr. Adhikari was elected as its MLA in 2016. He quit the post days before joining the BJP in December 19 last.
“He [Suvendu Adhikari] should say he wants to contest from Nandigram… He wants to make a fool of someone by making that person contest from Nandigram against our leader and is trying to save himself from a humiliating defeat,” Mr. Banerjee said.
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The MP, who was addressing a gathering in Purba Medinipur after almost six years, accused Mr. Adhikari of joining those who attacked the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who hailed from Purba Medinipur, in Kolkata in 2019. The bust was vandalised during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s road show in Kolkata during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
“The people of Purba Medinipur will never side with the traitors who have tainted the soil of the district,” Mr. Banerjee said. The reason for Mr. Adhikari’s differences with the TMC was because the party did away with the system of observers.
‘Defection plans’
The Diamond Harbour MP, who is also the nephew of Ms. Banerjee, said Mr. Adhikari had plans to defect to the BJP after the polls with the TMC MLAs from the four districts he was appointed as observer. He would have then bargained for the post of Chief Minister, Mr. Banerjee alleged.
“We are aware that you were in touch in Amit Shah since 2014 and that is why we did not trust you,” the MP, who is the second most important leader in the party after the Chief Minister, said.
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Mr. Banerjee also accused Mr. Adhikari of taking money from Sudipta Sen, promoter of Saradha Group of companies that has duped lakhs of people of their life savings. Referring to a letter written by Mr. Sen to a judge, he exhorted the people duped in the scam to lay siege to the residence of Mr. Adhikari in the district.
As Assembly polls approach, the war of words between Mr. Adhikari and Mr. Banerjee is getting shriller with every day. In every public rally, Mr. Adhikari had targeted Mr. Banerjee by referring to him as “ extortionist nephew”.
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