A slew of defections from the BJP to the Trinamul Congress has prompted a section in the saffron camp to question the leadership capabilities of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
According to sources, multiple leaders, especially those in lobbies adversely disposed towards Adhikari, are becoming increasingly critical of the Nandigram lawmaker’s apparent inability to keep the flock together.
“Since the 2021 Assembly polls, key BJP leaders who have switched to Trinamul are MLAs. They weren’t BJP office-bearers. Shouldn’t the LoP do introspection and be held accountable for his failure to keep the legislature party together?” a BJP leader close to state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar asked.
Similar reactions have come from various sections in the party’s rank and file, after Suman Kanjilal, the Alipurduar BJP MLA, joined Trinamul on Sunday evening in the presence of the party’s national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Kanjilal was the sixth lawmaker to defect from the BJP. He was preceded by Mukul Roy, Biswajit Das, Krishna Kalyani, Soumen Roy and Tanmoy Ghosh. Apart from the six MLAs, two MPs —Babul Supriyo and Arjun Singh — had also defected to Trinamul.
Another section feels Trinamul is targeting BJP MLAs specifically because it wants to defame Adhikari. His repeated jibes at chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew have made him Trinamul’s prime target. As a result, the BJP legislature party is suffering, said a source.
Adhikari’s claims of being close to the BJP’s central leadership are also being questioned.
“What has he done with all hobnobbing with Amit Shah? Has he been able to get Trinamul leaders arrested? No. On the contrary, Trinamul keeps attacking him repeatedly by poaching our lawmakers. Naturally, the party is suffering,” a state BJP vice-president said.
Kanjilal’s defection also brought to the fore differences between leaders close to Adhikari and other camps of the BJP.
Manoj Tigga, the party’s chief whip in the Assembly and an MLA known for his proximity to Adhikari, said lack of communication among legislators and district-level officer-bearers of the party was the reason for Kanjilal’s decision to desert the BJP.
“Suman Kanjilal took such a decision because there is no proper communication between district leaders and elected representatives of the party. The district leadership has not taken any effective steps to organise political activities with MPs and MLAs to retain our support base in the district. We should resolve these issues immediately or else, we have to face more of such consequences in the coming days,” Tigga.
The rattled BJP leaders congregated at the district BJP office in Alipurduar on Monday. They spoke for hours on various issues and after the meeting, took out a protest march while shouting slogans against Kanjilal.
However, some BJP leaders are of the opinion that it is only because of Adhikari that the pace of defections has been slow, since Trinamul has been trying to poach its MLAs aggressively, for a while.
“Had the LoP been someone weaker than Suvenduda, the poaching would have been much faster. Now, what can the LoP do if someone defects for personal gains?” asked Bankim Ghosh, the BJP’s Chakda MLA.
Adhikari’s critics, too, agree that he is currently the most popular leader of the BJP in Bengal. His proximity to Union home minister Shah is also agreed upon. However, his ability to contribute to the party organisationally has come under question after these defections.
