On a day when TMC-turncoat Suvendu Adhikari’s brother Soumendu Adhikari is set to join BJP, his father Shishir Adhikari asserted that he was still with Mamata Banerjee.

However, he expressed his dissatisfaction over the taunts that TMC had hurled at the Adhikari family ever since Suvendu’s defection to BJP. He said that citizens of Medinipur would answer for the insults the Adhikaris had to face.

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“I’m still with Mamata Banerjee. Boby [Firhad Hakim] and Saugata Roy came here and insulted us with disgusting words. No one ever used such vile terms about my family. They attacked us in such heinous language,” Shishir Adhikari was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika.

The Adhikari patriarch also called the removal of his younger son Soumendu Adhikari from the Contai Municipality “unconstitutional”. He said justice was note done to “the biggest supporter of Mamata Banerjee in Adhikari family”.

He said, “He had gone to Madhya Pradesh’s Mahakal temple. Just because he had put saffron tika on his forehead, everyone anticipated that he had joined BJP. Then he was removed from the post of administrator. Was it justified?”

Soumendu was unconditionally removed as the chairman of board of administrators in Contai Municipality by Firhad Hakim, West Bengal’s Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs.

The senior-most Adhikari also clarified that he would never go against his sons. “They wanted me to speak against Suvendu. Is that even possible? Why will I go against my own son? What the party has said against my family is not good. Mamata is still my leader. I’ve not uttered a single word against her so far,” Shishir Adhikari said.

“But the citizens of Medinipur will answer for the insults that we have had to face. In democracy, people speak the last word.”

Meanwhile, Suvendu announced that Soumendu will follow his footsteps and defect to BJP at a rally in Purba Medinipur’s Contai on Friday.

A day after he was removed from Contai Municipality, Suvendu had already hinted about his possible change of loyalty. “Lotus will bloom in every household. Wait a bit,” Soumendu was quoted as saying by PTI on Thursday.

However, two senior Adhikaris – father Shishir Adhikari and oldest son Dibyendu Adhikari – are still sitting TMC MPs.