Published 23:13 IST, January 26th 2021
Suvendu Adhikari hints at more TMC exits; asks Mamata 'Will you contest from everywhere?'
Warning that more TMC MLAs will desert Trinamool, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday, asked if the CM will contest from all their seats apart from Nandigram
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Warning that more TMC MLAs will desert Trinamool soon, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday, asked if the CM will contest from all their seats - apart from Bhawanipore and Nandigram. Addressing a public meeting, he added that wherever Mamata Banerjee contests from she will be trounced. Banerjee has challenged Adhikari at his home turf- Nandigram saying that she will contest from both Bhawanipore and Nandigram in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls in April-May.
Adhikari: 'More lotuses will bloom'
"Banerjee has announced that she will contest from Nandigram seat where she will be trounced. Besides, her vote share in Bhowanipore constituency has also shrunk drastically since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The TMC supremo may also declare in the coming days that she will contest from Domjur or Bally seats. But wherever she goes, she will face the music," Adhikari said while addressing a public meeting.
Taunting to Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, he added, "I had told babusona lotus will bloom in my house. Soumendu (Suvendu's brother) joined BJP & by Ram Navami, more lotuses will bloom. Don't worry babusona, lotus will bloom in your house too by February".
I had told babusona ( TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee) lotus will bloom in my house. Soumendu (Suvendu's brother) joined BJP & by Ram Navami, more lotuses will bloom. Don't worry babusona, lotus will bloom in your house too by February: BJP's Suvendu Adhikari. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/FXlRLmu9mW
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2021
Mamata challenges Adhikari
Intensifying the battle for Bengal, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee on 18 January, announced that she will contest from Nandigram in the upcoming state polls. She suggested that she may contest from both Bhawanipore and Nandigram, setting up a direct faceoff with her ex-confidante Suvendu Adhikari. . The ex-Nandigram MLA was the mastermind of the 2007 Nandigram agitation - responded, "I will leave politics if I fail to defeat her by half a lakh votes".
The Mamata Banerjee-led party recently saw the exit of Suvendu Adhikari along with 6 MLAs, 1 MP, and 16 other grassroots leaders - who joined BJP and has now been fielded in the saffron party's political campaign. Later Adhikari's two brothers joined BJP, while his father has been removed from his party post. While sports minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla has 'retired' from politics, Rajib Banerjee claimed that he was not being able to work for the 'people of Bengal' and that he was being attacked personally in Trinamool. Sources have said that Rajib Banerjee will join BJP on January 30. West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee holds fort with 222 seats, will go to polls in April-May 2021.
23:12 IST, January 26th 2021