BJP’s national spokesperson Raju Bista today said that the stepping down of state minister Suvendu Adhikari from the West Bengal Government Cabinet was “another nail to the Trinamul Congress coffin.” As reaction to Mr Adhikari stepping down from his post poured in, another top TMC leader from Cooch Behar, Mihir Goswami, joined the saffron brigade in Delhi today.

“All those who believe in our democracy, our constitution and a bright future for Bengal have come to realize that TMC has now gone on to become a one-family enterprise. TMC is today synonymous with corruption, nepotism, syndicate raj, cut money, dictatorship and atrocities against common citizens,” Mr Bista, who is also the Darjeeling MP, said.

According to him, Mr Ashikari’s resignation is just the beginning and that there will be a “tsunami” of TMC supporters dumping the party that is responsible for the “downfall of West Bengalsocially, economically and politically.” On the other hand, North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh said Mr Adhikari has committed a “Maha paap” (great sin).

“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sacrificed and contributed a lot to make us leaders. We are politically established with her association, help and directions. We have become ministers, earned prestige and worked for the people in society only for Mamata Banerjee. She is in fact our guardian. If we leave her association, it would be a blunder and even sin. He has committed a blunder and maha paap by betraying her. He should have not left Didi as she was fighting BJP, a communal political party in Bengal. He will, however, realize his mistake soon,” Mr Ghosh said.

Reacting to Mr Adhikari’s resignation, CPIM leader and MLA from Siliguri, Asok Bhattacharya, said: “I should not comment on his decision to resign. But it is a fact that there will be more erosion in the Trinamul Congress. Breakaway groups will join hands with the BJP, and the BJP will complete the incomplete (bad) job of the ruling party in West Bengal with the help of those Trinamul Congress leaders.”

Meanwhile, senior TMC MLA of South Cooch Behar, Mr Goswami quit the ruling party and joined the BJP in Delhi. According to the BJP, Mr Goswami joined the party under the leadership of Kailash Vijayvargiya, the National General Secretary, Arjun Singh, Vice-President and Nisith Pramanick, MP, Cooch Behar, at the National BJP Headquarters in Delhi today.

“Today, as I have crossed the line of endurance, I have realized that the party I joined twenty-two years ago is not the grassroots today. I have no place in this team. So today I want to sever all ties with the Trinamul Congress. I hope my long-time friends and well-wishers will forgive me,” Mr Goswami said on Facebook.

BJP spokesperson, Mr Bista, meanwhile, said: “The TMC was supposed to bring about Poribartan (change) from the CPIM dictatorship, but today the TMC has become worse than the CPIM. People of Bengal deserve real change and that is only possible with BJP. This is why people of Bengal are determined to uproot the TMC.”

“I can say with certainty, after the 2021 elections, BJP will form the government with overwhelming majority in West Bengal, which will mark the beginning of a new era of peace, progress and prosperity for the state,” he added.

Meanwhile, our correspondents from Darjeeling and Kurseong add that posters bearing the photograph of Mr Adhikari hit public walls in Darjeeling and Kurseong today. The posters had a message in Nepali, which sent out good wishes for festivals like Tihar, Dashain and Chhath Puja. “We are all proud” and “We are supporters of Dada,” the posters said. The posters, however, have not been owned by any political party so far.