Unaware whether Suvendu Adhikari will join BJP Dilip Ghosh

    Kolkata, Nov 13 (PTI) Amid speculation over the future
move of senior Trinamool Congress leader Suvendu Adhikari,
BJP's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh on Friday said he
is unaware whether the state Transport minister will join the
saffron party or not.
    In a recent rally at Nandigram held by Adhikari to pay
respect to members of Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee
(Land Eviction Resistance Committee) who were killed in police
firing during the anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007,
the Trinamool Congress leader had said that he will announce
his next course of action from a political platform.
    Adhikari had also taken a dig at party colleagues for
visiting Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district after a gap of
13 years before the 2021 state polls.
    Claiming that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is going
through an "upheaval", Ghosh said that many of its leaders are
leaving the party.
    "The party in power is splitting and such a situation
at the top level has caused consternation among workers," he
said.
    Amid such a situation, attempts are being made by the
TMC to rope in people from other parties, the BJP leader
said.
    "When the TMC itself is going through tumultuous
times, who will join it?" the BJP leader told newspersons
here.
Asked whether Adhikari, who has been holding rallies
at different places for the last several days without the
TMC's banner, will join the saffron party, Ghosh said, "people
are saying so, but I am not aware whether he will join the BJP
or not".
    Adhikari did not attend a Cabinet meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this week.
    Adhikari, who holds the Transport and Environment
portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, holds a
considerable clout in Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and
some other parts of south Bengal.
He was the backbone of the anti-land acquisition
movement in Nandigram that played a crucial role in Mamata
Banerjee romping to power in the state in 2011 defeating the
Left Front.
    The transport minister's father Sisir Adhikari is a
member of Parliament from Kanthi, while his brother Dibyendu
Adhikari is an MP from neighbouring Tamluk. Another brother
Soumendu Adhikari is the chairman of Kanthi Municipality. PTI
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)