Kolkata: Veteran TMC MP Sisir Adhikari – father of recent BJP entrant and heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari – joined the BJP at Egra on Sunday in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah and other leaders of the party. With Suvendu, his brother Soumendu and father Sisir now out of camp, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said at a rally that she was a “big donkey” for not having recognised the family’s true motives earlier.
The Adhikari family wields considerable influence in Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district. Sisir said that he had to work really hard to rise through the ranks in the TMC, but the treatment meted out to him and his sons, of late, forced him to switch camp.
“The way our family was driven out (of TMC) will be forever written in history. We will rise against all political attacks and atrocities in Bengal. We will work under Modi ji and Amit Shah ji,” the Lok Sabha MP said, chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
Earlier in the day, Sisir had said that his son Suvendu, who is up against chief minister Banerjee in Nandigram, will bag the seat with ease. Banerjee has vacated her mainstay of Bhawanipur to contest from Nandigram.
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“Suvendu will win the elections by a huge margin. The TMC will be wiped out of East Midnapore,” he told reporters.
‘Mamata’s reaction’
Banerjee on Sunday called herself a “big donkey” for not recognising the true face of the Adhikari family.
At a rally in Kanthi Dakshin, Banerjee said she had even heard rumours on the Adhikari family building an empire worth Rs 5,000 crore.
“I say I am a big donkey for having failed to recognise them. I don’t know, but people say their ’empire’ is worth Rs 5,000 crore and they will use money to buy votes. But don’t vote for them,” Banerjee told the rally in Bengali.
The chief minister said she will get them investigated once she is voted to power.
She called the Adhikari family “Mir Jafars” and said the people of the region will not tolerate their move and give befitting replies with ballots.
Mir Jafar, the military general of Bengal’s last independent nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, is considered a traitor for deceiving the besieged Nawab during the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which paved the way for British rule in India.
Banerjee also blamed the Adhikari family for ruling the district as zamindars (landlords) by taking full control of the area, claiming that even she was not allowed to hold public meetings there.
(With PTI inputs)