In a significant political development in the poll-bound West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday submitted his resignation as an MLA. The development comes nearly 20 days after the Trinamool Congress heavyweight resigned from the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet.
“I do hereby tender my resignation from the member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Steps may be taken for its immediate acceptance,” a hand-written letter addressed to Speaker Biman Banerjee read.
Mr Adhikari, who was elected from the Nandigram constituency in Purba Medinipur district in 2016 arrived in the Assembly and was there for 15 minutes. He did not respond to questions by journalists about his next political move, including joining the BJP.
The Trinamool Congress leadership described Mr. Adhikari’s action as betrayal. “Suvendu has betrayed the party… I do not know what deals the BJP has made with him, but we were expecting this and, in our minds,, it is not a setback,” Saugata Roy, senior Trinamool Congress MP, said.
With speculations rife that Mr Adhikari will join the BJP, the party leadership welcomed the developments. Its State president Dilip Ghosh dismissed the Trinamool Congress allegation that the BJP was breaking the Trinamool Congress . “Mamata Banerjee is blaming the BJP [for people leaving her party]. We have no part in this. If people, seeing our activities and our fight, feel inspired to join us, there is no harm in it. We are not even in power here,” he said.
Amidst the political development and war of words, confusion remained over the manner in which Mr. Adhikari tendered his resignation. A person resigning from the Assembly must be present in person in front of the Speaker of the Assembly and write down and hand over his resignation in front of him and hand over the resignation letter to him. The Speaker was not present in the Assembly when Mr Adhikari tendered his resignation.
Alleges political vendetta
During the day, Mr Adhikari also wrote a letter to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, alleging that that his change of political stand was “spurring those in authority to be in political vendetta mode” against him . He sought the Governor’s intervention so that police and administration was “dissuaded from implicating me and my associate followers in criminal cases out of political motivation and vendetta”.
“Surely, bonhomie with the ruling party or dispensation cannot be essential requisite for enjoying liberty and human rights, as is the situation presently,” Mr. Adhikari said. He added that he quit the Ministry “dictated by sense of duty and public welfare”. The Governor assured him that he would take necessary steps.
“Suvendu Adhikari former minister @MamataOfficialhas by way of representation sought my intervention so that police @WBPolice @KolkataPolice and administration are dissuaded from implicating him and associates in criminal cases out of political vendetta. Taking expected steps,” Mr Dhankhar tweeted.
Suvendu meets another dissenting MP
Later in the evening, Mr. Adhikari met Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Bardhaman Purba Sunil Kumar Mondal. Mr. Mondal has been vocal against the Trinamool Congress leadership. The development is a clear indication that Mr. Mondal, who was earlier a lawmaker of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) before joining the Trinamool Congress, may also defect from the ruling party.
In the meeting, another disgruntled Trinamool leader and the Mayor of the Asansol Municipal Corporation Jitendra Tiwari was also present. Both Mr. Mondal and Mr .Tewari have been speaking against the Trinamool Congress leadership in the past few days.
