The Trinamool Congress on Thursday suffered a twin blow with two rebel leaders quitting the ruling party within hours of each other.
While powerful satrap Suvendu Adhikari left his primary membership of the party in the morning, former Asansol Mayor and MLA Jitendra Tiwari quit in the evening. Both the leaders had on Wednesday night held a secret meeting with another rebel leader and MP of Burdwan West constituency Sunil Mandal whose future course of action has not been known as yet.
Adhikari — once the prime spearhead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Nandigram movement that catapulted her to power — and Tiwari are likely to join the BJP in presence of Home Minister Amit Shah who will hold a rally at Midnapore on December 19, sources close to them said.
While Shah would come to Bengal in a two-day organisational trip, his party leaders Gajendra Shekhawat, Sanjeev Balyan, Prahlad Patel, Arjun Munda, Mansukh Mandaviya, UP Deputy Chief Minister KP Maurya and Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra would visit the State after he had left.
While Adhikari would not issue any political statement since Wednesday noon when he quit as the party MLA —nearly a month after quitting his ministerial portfolios —Tiwari went all out against the party leadership saying he was not allowed to function properly as the Mayor of Asansol — the second largest city of Bengal — by the leadership sitting in Kolkata. With elections overdue in most of the State’s municipal boards Tiwari had been functioning as the Administrator of AMC.
Tiwari who had earlier offered to continue as a common party man later left the party alleging an attack on his office at Pandaweshwar near Asansol. “I had resigned as the Administrator of AMC and also as the District TMC president but had not given up the primary membership of the party … but when some people vandalised and occupied my party office at the instance of the leaders sitting in Kolkata I had no other way but to quit the party too,” he said appealing to the State administration for police protection.
“As I have quit all my posts and the party an attack was mounted on my office, there can be future attack on my followers too. I apprehend threat to my life and so have asked for police protection,” he said.
Referring to the two leaders’ quitting the party Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “This is the beginning of the end of the Trinamool Congress and one would see more people leaving the party in the coming days.” On Adhikari and Tiwari’s joining the saffron outfit he said, “They are welcome in the BJP if they want because they are able leaders and our party will accord them adequate respect.”
Meanwhile, Adhikari had written to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar seeking protection and alleging that he and his supporters were facing threat, sources close to him said adding the Governor had forwarded that letter to Chief Minister recommending action.
Elsewhere the BJP Government had prepared a list of 25 leaders --- who were likely to quit the Trinamool Congress --- for providing them Y-plus, Y and X category security, sources said.