'Few people visiting Nandigram after 13 years' Bengal minister hits out at TMC

    Nandigram (WB), Nov 10 (PTI) Amid speculation over his
future political move, West Bengal minister Suvendu Adhikari
on Tuesday took a dig at the ruling TMC for organising
simultaneous rally here to mark "Nandigram Diwas", saying
that a few people are visiting the area after 13 years as the
assembly elections are approaching.
    Adhikari, who has been maintaining a distance from the
party's top leadership for the last few months, was addressing
a rally to pay respects to martyrs of Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh
Committee (Land Eviction Resistance Committee), who died on
this day in 2007 during the anti-land acquisition movement,
and said he would announce his next course of action from a
political platform.
    The minister also said he would never use the BUPC
platform for "vested political interests".
    "The Nandigram movement was a people's movement. It
was not of any particular individual. I have been with the
people of Nandigram. After 13 years, a few people are now
coming here as the elections are approaching.
    "I want to tell them if they are coming before polls,
they will have to come after elections too," Adhikari said at
the BUPC rally that did not have posters of Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee or the TMC flags.
    During his speech, the minister did not take names of
the party and its supremo, and said he "never believed in
using the platform of BUPC for his political gains".
    "I used to come alone during those days and stood by
the people," he said.
    His comments came in the backdrop of the TMC's
announcement that it is going to hold a rally here to mark
"Nandigram Divas".
    Posters of the chief minister and the party's flag
were seen at the ground where the TMC is scheduled to hold a
rally later in the day to mark the 13th "Nandigram Diwas".
    "Whatever I will have to say regarding my next course
of action, I will say from a political platform. I will say
everything but not from this pious stage," he said.
    West Bengal minister and senior TMC leader Firhad
Hakim, who is scheduled to address the party's rally here
said, "It would have been good had Suvendu addressed the rally
under the banner of the TMC."
    The BUPC is an organisation which was formed by
farmers of Nandigram to oppose the alleged forcible land
acquisition for industrialisation by the then Left Front
regime.
    The TMC, then the principal opposition, had patronised
the BUPC and after coming to power, several members of the
committee had joined the party.
    The land acquisition movements in Nandigram in East
Midnapore district and Singur in Hooghly are considered to be
two pillars which laid the foundation of the TMC government
led by Banerjee in 2011.
    Adhikari had played a vital role in TMC's Nandigram
movement in 2007, which had helped the party snatch power from
the Left Front.
    According to TMC sources, Adhikari has been distancing
himself from the party for the last few months and organising
programmes without the banner of the outfit.
    He did not attend several party programmes and the
state cabinet meetings in the last few months, they said.
    Adhikari has been addressing rallies in different
parts of the state and banners with "Dadar Anugami" (followers
of dada) written on them were seen in various parts of East
Midnapore district in the last two months.
    These rallies that did not have any sign or symbol of
the TMC or the chief minister -- unusual for the party's
leaders -- have given rise to speculation about his political
future.
    Apart from East Midnapore district, Adhikari holds
sway in about 35 assembly constituencies in West Midnapore,
Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and parts of Birbhum.
    Suvendu is a member of the powerful Adhikari family of
East Midnapore district. His father Sisir Adhikari and younger
brother Dibyendu Adhikari are TMC MPs from Tamluk and Kanthi
Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. PTI PNT
BDC BDC

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)