Suvendu likely to join BJP on 19th, TMC terms “eye to CM”

The run-up to the ‘crucial’ Bengal Assembly elections is likely to take a new turn this weekend with former state key minister and rebel Trinamool Congress MLA Suvendu Adhikari set to cross over to BJP on Saturday in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

According to sources here on Thursday, Mr Adhikari, scheduled to visit the capital this afternoon for discussions with BJP central leadership, has cancelled his tour and is likely to join BJP on December 19 during Mr Shah’s public rally in Midnapore district of Bengal.

The former Bengal minister resigned as MLA from the state Assembly on Wednesday, more than a fortnight after he quit the state cabinet saying it had become “difficult to work together” in a party he described as a “one-person organisation.”

Meanwhile, Bengal CM and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said, “Deserters won’t matter,” while senior party MP Saugata Roy, who had been trying to mend fences with Mr Adhikari on Trinamool’s behalf, in a stark comment said, “he (Adhikari) was eyeing for CM post.”

“This has nothing to do about ideology. This is bargaining for position.

He wanted to be deputy chief minister, may be even CM. I don’t know what BJP has offered him,” the Trinamool veteran maintained.

BJP has welcomed Mr Adhikari’s resignation as MLA.

“We welcome the decision. Many more from the TMC ranks will be joining the saffron party in the near future,” Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh observed.