India / Brother Soumendu, 5,000 TMC workers to join BJP: Suvendu Adhikari

Kolkata: Former TMC leader Soumendu Adhikari, who was recently removed from the post of administrator at Contai Municipality by the Mamata Banerjee-led government, joined the BJP along with a host of other TMC workers on Friday. Soumendu was accompanied by his brother Suvendu Adhikari, a former TMC leader himself who had switched to the saffron party recently.

“We will win this battle. A new government will be formed that will move forward with Narendra Modi’s ideals and promise to make the state ‘Sonar Bangla’,” Suvendu said at Purba Medinipur.

Subendu’s statement comes on the occasion of the TMC’s Foundation Day. His brother Soumendu had on Thursday said lotus will bloom in every home, hinting that he would join the saffron party following in his brother’s footsteps. The Adhikari household has two other members in the TMC camp — MPs Dibyendu and Sisir.

Suvendu, who had resigned from the TMC on December 16, was a member of the party’s steering committee and state committee, and a leader of its trade union front. In November 2020, he had quit the Cabinet where he held three important departments.

Three days later, Suvendu, Bardhaman Purba MP Sunil Kumar Mondal and nine other MLAs joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a public meeting in Midnapore.

Suvendu represented Nandigram constituency in Purba Medinipur district and was the face of the Nandigram movement, which catapulted Mamata Bannerjee to power in 2011.