Veteran TMC MP Sisir Adhikari—father of former-TMC-now-BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari—joined the BJP at Egra in Medinipur on Sunday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the party.
The patriarch of the Adhikari family, which wields considerable influence in Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, said that he had to work really hard to rise through the ranks in the TMC, but the treatment meted out to him and his sons, of late, forced him to switch camp.
"The way our family was driven out (of TMC) will be forever written in history. We will rise against all political attacks and atrocities in Bengal. We will work under Modiji and Amit Shahji," the Lok Sabha MP said, chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.
The switch by the veteran MP today irked West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee so much so that, on Sunday, she blamed herself for not recognising the "true face" of the Adhikari family and called herself a "big donkey" for being unable to do so.
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Venting her ire against Suvendu, her protege-turned-rival who is pitted against the TMC leader from Nandigram constituency for the coming assembly polls, Banerjee said at an election rally, she had even heard rumours the Adhikari family had built an empire worth Rs 5,000 crore.
"I say I am a 'big donkey' (Ami ekta boro gadha) for having failed to recognise them. I dont know (about it), but people say their `empire' is worth Rs 5,000 crore and they will use money to buy votes. But don't vote for them," Banerjee told the rally.
The chief minister said, she will get it investigated once she is voted to power.
Most members of the Adhikari family, which holds considerable political clout in the district, have either joined the BJP or expressed a desire to join the saffron party.
She compared the Adhikari family with "Mir Jafar" and said the people of the region will not tolerate it and give befitting replies with ballots.
Mir Jafar, the military general of Bengal's last independent nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, is considered a traitor for deceiving the besieged Nawab during the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which paved the way for British rule in India.
She also blamed the Adhikari family for ruling the district as "zamindars" (landlords) by taking full control of the area, claiming that even she was not allowed to hold public meetings there.
Highlighting that all works like health, roads and other schemes were undertaken by the state government and not by the Adhikari family, Banerjee urged the crowd to keep the BJP out of West Bengal to maintain peace and further the pace of development.
Banerjee left her Bhowanipore constituency in Kolkata to contest against her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, where an anti-land acquisition movement catapulted the TMC to power in the state in 2011.
Meanwhile, Adhikari asserted that his son Suvendu will bag the Nandigram seat with ease.
"Suvendu will win the elections by a huge margin. The TMC will be wiped out of East Midnapore," he told reporters.
(With PTI inputs)
