Mamata's TMC sacks Suvendu Adhikari's father & MP Sisir Adhikari from DSDA chairman's post

Weeks after Bengal politician Suvendu Adhikari left Trinamool Congress (TMC) to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his father and TMC MP Sisir Adhikari has been removed from the post of Chairman of Digha Sankrpur Development Authority Board (DSDA). According to sources, Sisir Adhikari will be replaced by Akhil Giri. The TMC MP has represented Kanthi parliamentary seat since 2009 and has also served as Union Minister of State for Rural Development in the Congress-led UPA government. 

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Suvendu Adhikari's brother joins BJP

Amid reigning chaos in the poll-bound state of West Bengal, following his brother's shift to BJP, Soumendu Adhikari after being removed from the post of administrator at Contai Municipality joined the saffron camp along with a host of other leaders from the state's ruling party. 

This came after Suvendu Adhikari on the occasion of the Mamata Banerjee-led party's Foundation Day said, "My younger brother Soumendu will join the BJP in Contai today. He will be accompanied by several councillors and 5,000 TMC grassroots workers. The TMC will steadily disintegrate."

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Suvendu Adhikari joins BJP

Delivering a massive blow to Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari on December 19, 2020, joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Bengal's Midnapore College Ground. Along with Adhikari, 23 other grassroots leaders had joined the saffron party- bolstering its chances in the 2021 West Bengal elections. Lashing out at his peer - Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari had written an open letter to all Trinamool leaders, saying 'TMC and Bengal is not one family's fiefdom', urging them to join him.

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While Adhikari resigned from the West Bengal Cabinet on November 27, he submitted a letter resigning as the MLA on December 16. Adhikari and a number of other MLAs and political functionaries joined BJP in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a rally in Midnapore on December 19. 

West Bengal elections

The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats. However, BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. Recently, TMC trumped BJP in all 3 bypolls, but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections. 

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