Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, at an internal meeting of the BJP on Friday said that all his claims about the “December deadline” looming large on the Mamata Banerjee government were based on his expectations about court orders against the ruling dispensation in some corruption related cases.

Over the last few months, Adhikari has been publicly claiming that three dates in December — 12, 14, and 21 — are going to change the course of Bengal politics as big developments will take place on these dates. He had often mentioned his forecast as “December deadline” or “December dhamaka”, which prompted a section of BJP supporters to believe that something major is about to happen in the state of West Bengal.

A section of BJP leaders in Bengal was unhappy with Adhikari’s claims and they distanced themselves from the speculations revolving around his December theory.

The leader of the opposition, who was reportedly ticked off by the central leaders earlier this week for such forecasts, was apparently asked to explain what he meant at a meeting held at Bandel in Hooghly. BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh presided over the meeting, which was attended by the party’s in-charge for Bengal Sunil Bansal, state minder Mangal Pandey, his deputies Amit Malviya and Asha Lakra, state chief Sukanta Majumdar, national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty, and his deputy Satish Dhond.

“Suvenduda said that his statements about December have been misrepresented... He urged the party leaders not to get confused,” a BJP MLA present at the meeting said.

“He explained that all he had said was to ‘wait and watch’ for what happens in December and also clarified that he didn’t mean that the Trinamul Congress government is going to fall this month,” added the source.

At the meeting on Friday, Adhikari admitted that he was hoping that the Supreme Court would hear the coal scam case on December 12 and withdraw the legal immunity it had earlier provided to Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee. He had also hoped the apex court would order the state to clear the outstanding Dearness Allowance to government employees on December 14. In both the cases, the court deferred the hearings.