Last Thursday, the body of Khaleq Mia, a party worker of the Trinamool Congress, was discovered in a field in Cooch Behar reported The Telegraph. According to his family, the 70-year-old party worker from Rampur-Jaldhowa village of Toofanganj subdivision had gone missing the previous evening. Party workers accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of murder, a charge they vehemently denied.
Then just the next day, TMC member Manoranjan Dey, who is part of the Alipurduar Zilla Parishad and is also the president of the Alipurduar Block-1 committee, was allegedly shot at on his way to Siliguri. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning, again in Cooch Behar. Some people in another car shot three rounds at Dey when he stepped out of his car, one bullet injured Dey in his leg.
Senior TMC leader and state Tourism Minister Gautam Deb blamed the BJP for the attack. The BJP once again denied the allegation and in turn said that Avijit Barman, general secretary of Cooch Behar district committee, was fired at, on Thursday. Violent clashes also erupted in Mathabhanga between workers of both parties on Friday.
Meanwhile, the defection drama is getting more intense with each passing day in Bengal. On Saturday TMC workers allegedly stopped the vehicle of Sunil Mondal outside the BJP state headquarters in Kolkata on December 26 and staged a protest. Mondal, who resigned from the TMC before joining the BJP on December 19, hasn’t yet resigned from his position as the Member of Parliament (MP) from East Bardhaman. Mondal along with Suvendu Adhikari was among those who were inducted into the BJP on December 19 amidst much fanfare by none other than Union Home Minister and BJP heavyweight Amit Shah.
In fact, Suvendu Adhikari’s roadshow at Contai’s Meccheda bypass on December 24, attracted a huge crowd, thus showcasing his influence. “Bengal may be my home but India is my land… The common man is with us. They have given the TMC a befitting reply,” said Adhikari while addressing the rally that ended with the now familiar chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” reported The Telegraph.
All eyes are now on other members of his highly influential political family to see if they too will follow in Suvendu’s footsteps. Suvendu’s father Sisir Adhikari is the TMC Member of Parliament from Kanthi. Suvendu’s brother Dibyendu is TMC’s MP from Tamluk and another brother Soumyendu held an important civic post in Contai until recently.
Meanwhile, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek appeared to take a rather juvenile dig at Suvendu Adhikari. While addressing a rally at Diamond Harbour, Abhishek compared Adhikari to a “asymptomatic Covid-19 patient” accusing him of destabilising and sabotaging the TMC from within.
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