Suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Riju Dutta on Sunday criticised party chief Mamata Banerjee, triggering reactions from within the party, as well as the BJP.
Dutta openly praised the new West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari—one of the leaders that led the saffron party to a 207-seat sweep in the state—saying that it was his presence of mind that prevented large-scale violence after the killing of his close aide, Chandranath Rath.
Rath was shot dead on May 6—an incident that Dutta claimed could have been turned into a political spectacle by Adhikari calling for revenge, which could have led to the deaths of "at least 5,000 Trinamool Congress workers".
However, he lauded Adhikari's restraint and the fact that he instead "asked everyone to maintain peace and not take the law into their own hands", as per an ANI report.
Dutta further spoke of Adhikari's extensive political experience, mainly touching upon his time as one of Banerjee's close aides to becoming the BJP leader who had defeated her in the 2021 Assembly elections from his stronghold of Nandigram.
This time round, Adhikari won against the former CM from both his own seat, as well as her home turf of Bhabanipur.
Dutta also shed light on the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) scandal which is said to have affected the party's standing in the state—the arrest of the consultancy's co-founders, Pratik Jain, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering probe linked to a coal scam case.
Alleging that I-PAC running the party behind the scenes had "destroyed" it, and that "Didi and Abhishek Da will have to take responsibility for the sabotage of this party by I-PAC".
"The third biggest reason for TMC's defeat is the disrespect for women. We used to think that all the women in Bengal would vote for Didi blindly, but the lower-level cadres of the TMC have committed atrocities on the Hindu women of the village, month after month, year after year. This is the result of the atrocities they have suffered," he pointed out.
However, West Bengal BJP President Samik Bhattacharya has claimed that Dutta was among a number of TMC leaders waiting to join the BJP, but that "the door is shut for any TMC leader".
Why was Riju Dutta suspended by the TMC?
The TMC spokesperson was one among three people suspended by the party on Saturday for a six-year period over allegedly violating party discipline.
Kohinoor Majumdar and Kartik Ghosh were the other two spokespersons suspended on Saturday, in addition to five other TMC leaders who were served show cause notices earlier for similar reasons.
The suspended TMC leaders have now been given 24 hours to justify why no disciplinary action ought to be taken against them.