Trinamul’s East Midnapore leaders urged the party’s state leadership to request chief minister Mamata Banerjee to hold a massive rally in the district, preferably in Nandigram, by early January to rally forces and glue the fissures caused by the region’s tallest party leader Suvendu Adhikari defecting to the BJP.
Adhikari accepted the BJP colours from Union home minister Amit Shah in Midnapore on Saturday.
“We saw this coming, but we need to meet the challenge triggered by Suvenduda’s defection. Suvenduda has not roped in other big leaders from the district yet, but he can, so we need to act in advance,” said district zilla parishad deputy chief Sheikh Sufian.
The district Trinamul leadership is eager to hold the rally at Nandigram because it is Adhikari’s political turf and key to his “son of the soil” persona for his role during the land movement that helped propel Mamata’s party to power in 2011.
“There’s no shortage of massive tracts of land in Nandigram for a mega rally that is Didi’s signature. We need to do this immediately. People are still with Didi and it doesn’t matter that Suvenduda has switched sides,” Sufian added.
In the evening, Trinamul took out huge rallies in Haldia and Nandigram and burnt Adhikari’s effigies dubbing him a traitor.
Sources said Adhikari left home around 11.50am on Saturday for the Midnapore rally, where Trinamul Contai MLA Banasree Maity and district leader Sukumar Das also accepted saffron party colours from Shah. Adhikari, who was reportedly dismissive of reporters on Saturday in contrast to his former rapport with the media, was not accompanied by his father or brothers.
Sources close to the Adhikaris said Suvendu’s father and younger brother Dibyendu, both Trinamul MPs, did not switch sides to avoid falling foul of the anti-defection law. The lack of adequate numbers in forging a split in the party or switch sides, as laid down in the law, could also lead to disqualification, a situation the Adhikaris want to avoid, a source close to the family said.
Turncoat Das said Shah’s Midnapore rally marked the beginning of a turn in fortunes for East Midnapore. “Suvenduda will hold massive rallies soon and you will see even more people coming over to the BJP. Just listen to their cheers,” Das said.