Former West Bengal transport minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday resigned from the membership of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Last month he had resigned from the cabinet of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The MLA from Nandigram is most likely to join the BJP during Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state on December 19-20. It needs to be stated that Suvendu was among the leading lights of the Nandigram movement against the Left Front government in 2007. It is feared that some other Trinamool Congress leaders are likely to follow suit. Senior TMC MP Saugata Roy accused Suvendu of betraying the party. On the other hand, Suvendu has reportedly alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government may implicate him on false charges.
Meanwhile Suvendu held a meeting with some other TMC leaders such as senior MP Sunil Mandal and Asansol civic body chief Jitendra Tiwari at Mandal’s home in Paschim Bardhaman district.
Reports suggest that some other leaders of the party who were not happy with the leadership of Mamata Banerjee were present on the occasion. They all publicly supported Adhikari’s decision to resign.
Only recently, another minister in the Mamata cabinet Rajib Banerjee, who is the Minister for Forest Affairs, openly criticized the chief minister for not giving due respect to old and trusted party loyalists and workers. There are indications that he may too quit from the party.
It needs to be mentioned that Nandigram was in the news in the year 2007 when the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government announced that a chemical hub will be established in a Special Economic Zone of the township by the Salim Group of Indonesia. The farmers of the area resented this and eventually the situation came to such a pass that the police had to use force. 14 villagers were killed and 70 of them were injured in this incident.
