BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday failed to produce any evidence to show that Mamata Banerjee had called up Union home minister Amit Shah for his intervention to revoke the de-recognition of the Trinamul Congress as the national party, a day after he had threatened to "expose" the chief minister.

Mamata had on Wednesday dared Adhikari — albeit without taking his name — to prove that she had phoned Shah over Trinamul's relegation as a regional party and if he did so, she would resign as the chief minister.

Responding to her remarks, Adhikari issued a statement on Twitter on Wednesday, virtually promising an expose on Thursday.

“Yeh Darr Mujhe Achha Laga (I like this fear)!” he had posted on the microblogging site.

“For making the call to Delhi, you used a landline. I’d expose you in due time. Wait for my befitting reply tomorrow,” he had added.

However, Adhikari's press conference on Thursday turned out to be a damp squib.

“You (Mamata) live under high security, (you are) the administrative head of the state. One cannot bring out your phone details or call details publicly and I don’t even want to do that.… Without the intervention of the law or the court, these cannot come into the public domain. I want you to move court and I will make the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) of the Union government a party. Then, they will be forced to produce the call records from March 4 to April 12, from your two landlines. That will clarify everything,” said the leader of the Opposition, who had been threatened by Trinamul with legal action if he failed to withdraw his “false and vexatious claims”.

Adhikari said he would reply on Friday to Trinamul’s letter that threatened the legal action.

Many in the BJP drew parallels between Adhikari’s latest failure to back his claims and his dud December deadlines for the implied collapse of the Mamata Banerjee government. He had made tall claims last year that December 2022 would deal body blows to Trinamul and the BJP would not have to do anything to fell the government. When it was clear that nothing of the sort was going to happen, Adhikari had to take several steps back and say that he could have been wrong about the dates, but was sure that Trinamul would have to go.

“Why does he have to repeatedly make such absurdly audacious claims in public if he cannot substantiate them? Does he not understand that his desperate efforts to make the headlines with these gestures ultimately embarrass the party? Or does he not even care, as long as he gets that publicity?” asked a state BJP functionary.

Trinamul’s national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee said Adhikari’s response on Thursday was as hollow as a balloon.

“Every single time he (Adhikari) tweets and says that he will explode a bomb, you will inevitably see there is nothing to it. A balloon that bursts, every single time,” said Abhishek.

Referring to a claim made by Adhikari on Thursday — of quitting politics if he fails to unseat Mamata, Abhishek wondered why the leader of the Opposition was missing out on this current opportunity.

“You (Adhikari) are saying that you will make this chief minister a former one or leave politics. The chief minister herself is saying that she will resign if you are able to prove your claims. This is a remarkable opportunity, just sitting there to be seized. What is stopping you? You might not get this kind of opportunity ever again,” said the Diamond Harbour MP.

Adhikari also conducted the overenthusiastic exercise of trying to accuse Mamata of deliberately misinterpreting Shah’s April 14 claim, to mislead the people, although the Union home minister or the party’s national leadership is yet to make any such effort.

Shah had suggested if the BJP wins 35 seats from Bengal in the 2024 general election, Mamata’s government — although Lok Sabha and Assembly elections have no bearing on each other — would implode prematurely, before 2025. Mamata has demanded Shah’s resignation as Union home minister over the remark.

“Amit Shahji set a target of 35 (Bengal Lok Sabha) seats for 2024. He had said that the way the ruling party has gotten involved in all levels of corruption in Bengal, the way the members of the ruling party involved in corruption are being sent to jail, the way the state government has become bankrupt, it is possible that (the BJP ) wins 35 seats and the Assembly polls are held prematurely,” said Adhikari, adding he would move court against Mamata for calling Shah a "gunda", and for claiming the Union home minister had instructed BJP leaders of the state to foment communal tension in the state.

The Nandigram MLA also wrote to the Election Commission, alleging that Mamata had “blatant disregard” for it.