10 MLAs, MP, 2 ex-Mins, ex-MP, 45 municipal heads & councillors et al join BJP at Midnapore rally
The BJP on Saturday netted its biggest ever catch in Bengal grabbing a large swarm of Opposition leaders led by powerful TMC satrap Suvendu Adhikari — a Mamata Banerjee man Friday and her sharpest spearhead in Nandigram movement that catapulted her to power in 2011.
A massive saffron rally at the historical town of Midnapore presided over by Union Home Minister Amit Shah witnessed 10 MLAs — 7 of the ruling outfit — a sitting party MP, two ex-Ministers, a former parliamentarian, 45 municipal chairmen and councillors, and two district board chairpersons switching sides prompting Shah to predict a “landslide victory” for the saffron party in 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal.
The only rebel face who apparently could not make it to the BJP on Saturday was former Asansol Mayor and MLA Jitendra Tiwari who backed off hours before switching sides reportedly after Union Minister and Asansol BJP MP Babul Supriyo and some other saffron leaders objected to his joining the outfit. Tiwari then offered his apology to the Chief Minister saying he would work for her.
Cut to Midnapore: Seeking five years’ time for his party to smarten up Bengal, Home Minister Shah said, “You gave 27 years to the Congress, three decades to the Left and 10 years to Mamata Banerjee but nothing happened… now afford us five years and see how we convert your State into Sonar Bangla (golden Bengal).
Launching a scathing attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said “The desertion will continue in the TMC till she is left with none before the elections.” Advising her retrospection he said, “The people are quitting the TMC in large numbers because of the misrule, corruption, (tolabaji) extortionist culture, nepotism with the singular aim of making the nephew (read Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee) the next Chief Minister.”
The long queue of defectors suggested that the BJP was going to come to power with 200-plus legislators, Shah said buttressing party vice president Mukul Roy’s argument that the ruling outfit would not cross three figure in the elections. Apart from the TMC leaders two Left MLAs and a Congress legislator too joined the BJP.
Attacking the State Government, he said, “Mamata Didi should feel ashamed of the rampant corruption… so much so that they would not even spare the poor men’s relief materials for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent Central funds… they even gobbled down the relief materials sent during the pandemic times…”
The Home Minister, who along with Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh and senior leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, had lunch at a farmer’s house, complained how “the State Government is blocking the Central schemes like Ayushman Bharat and Kisan Samman Nidhi” aggravating the crisis in a job-starved State.
Adhikari too referred to the growing discontent in the party and among the people saying the TMC was formed with an ideal but all that had been sacrificed at the altars of corruption and nepotism. “The only goal seems to be to make Bhaipo (nephew Abhishek Banerjee) the Chief Minister,” Adhikari seldom known for mounting personal attacks thundered raising the slogan, “Bhaipo Hatao Bangla Bachao” (Remove the nephew and save Bengal).
Hitting out at the Chief Minister for frequently raising the “outsider theory” while speaking about leaders like Shah, Vijayvargiya, JP Nadda, etc, Adhikari reminded how Bengal had always represented a pluralist culture and that “one should always remind that “India comes first and Bengal comes after that.”
Attacking his erstwhile party colleagues about calling him a “traitor” Adhikari said, “The people who call me a traitor should keep in mind that the TMC had been a part of the NDA and an ally of the BJP jointly fighting elections since 1998 when we together won 11 seats … those who call me traitor should remember the TMC’s chemistry with the party that was once led by Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee …”
Saying that the party and the colleagues for whom he had given the prime time of his life and “did not even care to call me up when I was down with corona … but it was Amit Shah ji who rang me up like an elder brother and wished me well,” Adhikari said “the storm that was coming in Bengal would sweep across Bengal from Digha to Darjeeling” and along with it blow away the TMC.
Earlier he wrote a letter to the TMC leadership in which he objected to the decision of invoking poll strategist Prashant Kishor for winning elections.
“The very people on the backs of whom the party was created are now being sidelined, humiliated and outcast… The party was filled with “Sakam Karma Bhogis” (those concerned with self-aggrandisement individuals) who are not bothered about anyone but themselves, individuals who will take monetary compensation for their services and disappear as soon as the elections conclude.”
Meanwhile, faced with a large number of desertions the TMC put up a brave face saying those who had left the party were all redundant. Calling Adhikari a “coward” Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “Instead of bringing the issue of Bhaipo he should have named him and seen the consequence.”
On his quitting the party, another senior Minister Firhad Hakim said “If he feels that the TMC has rotted and that he could not perform here then why he did not leave earlier … why he waited for the past 10 years and consumed the cream before leaving ahead of the elections. He will have to explain a lot of things to the people.”
A deft organiser Adhikari’s exit could hit the TMC hard as he has a good following in a number of districts including West Midnapore, East Midnapore (from where he belongs), Bankura, Purulia, Murshidabad, Malda, Burdwan and North Dinajpur, insiders said.
Sunday, 20 December 2020 | Saugar Sengupta | Midnapore
