Ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, aggrieved West Bengal politician Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday quit the Trinamool Congress. Over the last few weeks, the heavyweight leader has gradually resigned from all administrative posts. Most recently, on Wednesday, he had submitted his resignation as MLA to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Now, in a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said that he was tendering his resignation as a member of the All India Trinamool Congress as well as from all other positions held by him in the party and its associate organisations "with immediate effect".
There is speculation that the politician will join the BJP in the days to come - possibly on the 19th when Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to visit Kolkata. Once one of the TMC supremo's top aides, Adhikari had written to Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar seeking seeking his intervention on any potential mischief directed towards him out of political vendetta after tendering his resignation as MLA. The letter was then shared by the Governor on Twitter.
The rift between Adhikari and his former party has been growing over the last few months. Multiple rounds of talks with senior party leaders had failed to bring about a reconciliation, and for some time now, Adhikari has been holding political events without any TMC symbol in sight. At the end of November, he had resigned as the West Bengal Transport Minister, as well as other offices that he had held.
Adhikari's exit is not an isolated incident. According to reports, five leaders in Bengal's Malda district have also submitted their resignations on Thursday. According to an update shared by news agency ANI, Chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation, Col. (R) Diptangshu Choudhary has also tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee today.
Further details awaited.
