Veteran Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Saugata Roy has said on Wednesday that it was not for him to decide what Suvendu Adhikari would do after receiving the rebel leader’s Whatsapp message: “Forgive me, it won’t be possible for me to continue”.
Speaking to the press after receiving Adhikari’s message, Roy said, “I truthfully spoke about everything that happened at the meeting yesterday. Now, if Suvendu Adhikari changes his mind, it’s up to him and he will inform what he intends to do.”
According to Bengali media, over a Whatsapp message Adhikari is believed to have said that he was unhappy how TMC did not pay any heed to find solution to his problems and instead imposed the party’s decision on him at Tuesday’s meeting.
The former Minister in charge of Transport, Irrigation and Water resource in Government of West Bengal has also said that he did not want the party to reveal everything about the meeting before his press conference on December 6.T
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee and election strategist Prashant Kishor had met with Adhikari on Tuesday. The meeting, which lasted over two hours, was mediated by Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy and veteran leader Sudip Banerjee.
“The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. All the problems have been sorted out. The party is united. There was the need for a face-to-face meeting to sort out the issues. So it was done,” PTI quoted Roy as saying.
However, Adhikari himself had not given any statement. His text message to Roy was his first reaction after Tuesday’s meeting.
Adhikari has been a hotshot political property in West Bengal ever since he started a rebellion against his own party. He had begun expressing his disenchantment with TMC with indirect jibes at “apolitical” meetings and rallies.
One of the architects of TMC’s Nandigram revolution, the Nandigram MLA is still a major force of the party’s ground-level organisation in the state. Suvendu’s departure from TMC could be fateful for West Bengal’s governning party in next year’s election.