Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari, who stepped down from the state cabinet on Friday, gave Calcutta and a meeting with an emissary of Trinamul leadership a miss on Saturday, citing his mother’s ill health.
Adhikari is, however, likely to attend and address an “apolitical” event in Mahishadal, Haldia, on Sunday.
His Calcutta no-show didn’t create much of a concern within Trinamul as sources said most in the party and its chief Mamata Banerjee were prepared to carry on without him.
“I have spoken to the Contai MP (Adhikari’s father Sisir). Suvendu’s mother is ill. So he cannot come to the city today (Saturday), or till she gets better,” said Trinamul vice-president Saugata Roy.
Two meetings between Adhikari and Roy earlier had failed to effect a rapprochement.
However, Roy said on Saturday: “He (Adhikari) is still in the party. There is still hope.”
Despite Roy’s assertions, most in Trinamul feel Adhikari would quit Trinamul and so it was wise to prioritise on damage control. “Suvendu is yet to get an assurance of whatever it is he wants from the BJP. That is why he is yet to take the final leap (quitting Trinamul). She (Mamata) is not in favour of making a martyr out of him by throwing him out, so the party will cautiously wait and watch for a few more days,” said a minister.
Mamata on Saturday sent Trinamul state president Subrata Bakshi for a meeting to Midnapore, after which it was decided that she would conduct a “major” rally there on December 7. That rally, in the Adhikari clan’s backyard, will be the first of a series of similar events across the state in the coming days. “She (Mamata) seems ready to move on. She seems to have no doubt about what Suvendu would do, although speculation on several possibilities remain,” said a Trinamul MP.
As part of a bid to reorganise the party, on Saturday, Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee and poll strategist Prashant Kishor met senior leaders of Malda, a district handled by Adhikari. Eight leaders were asked to attend the meeting at Abhishek’s Camac Street office, but three — district Trinamul president and Rajya Sabha member Mausam Benazir Noor, former minister Sabitri Mitra and district INTTUC chief Manab Banerjee — did not turn up. Sources said Noor took a Covid-19 test on Saturday, Mitra recently lost a relative and is in mourning and Banerjee’s mother underwent a surgery.
Mihir speaks to Shah
Cooch Behar South MLA Mihir Goswami, who left the TMC for the BJP in Delhi on Friday, met home minister Amit Shah on Saturday and spoke on the “neglect of north Bengal”, urging Shah to grant special status to the region.
BJP sources said that the joining of Goswami would help the party as he has always had a clean image. Besides, he has always been vocal about the development needs of north Bengal. Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik, instrumental in Goswami’s switch, said more prominent TMC leaders from the region would join the BJP soon.
