First in Decades, Adhikari Family Left Out in BJP’s Candidates List for Bengal Civic Polls

No member of the family of West Bengal state opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari has been named in the BJP’s list of candidates for the ‘Adhikari’s Garh’ Kanthi’s civic polls. After the announcement of the BJP candidate on Monday, it was seen that no one got a BJP ticket in this election.

Shishir Adhikari, Suvendu, Divyendu, and Soumendu Adhikari have been holding the post of chairman of Kanthi municipality for the last four decades.

The political experts in the state are smelling differently as the BJP has not given tickets to the Adhikari family.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that there was no future for Suvendu in BJP. So, he wants to return to the TMC again. However, the saffron camp has clearly explained the ‘importance’ of Suvendu in the BJP’s scheme of things.

Kunal Ghosh said those who left TMC with Suvendu and went to BJP also want to return. So the question is, will Mamata Banerjee give Suvendu a place in the TMC camp again? Kunal has ruled out that possibility though.

Kunal said, “Those who went from TMC to BJP are saying that they want to come back. Suvendu also wants the same.”

At one point in time, Adhikari’s residence was the base of revolutionary activities in Bengal. They have been in power from district to State-level politics. But this is for the first time in the last four decades that there is no name of any family member in the candidate list of Kanthi municipality.

Within a month of Suvendu Adhikari joining the BJP before the last assembly elections, his younger brother Soumendu left the TMC and joined the saffron camp. At that time, Soumendu was made the general secretary of BJP’s Kanthi area. Soumendu was seen in various BJP programmes in Kanthi. However, his name has also not been mentioned in the BJP’s list in the civic polls yet. As a result, the Adhikari family will lose the Kanthi Municipal Board for the first time in the last four decades.

However, Soumendu does not want to bring any speculation about this. He said, “I do not work in any private limited company. The party has nominated only those whom it seems fit. When we participate in any election, there are comments on the ‘parivar tantra’ issue. And the same thing is happening when we are not there.”

Shishir Adhikari was elected the first commissioner of Kanthi municipality in 1964. He was the chairman of the municipality from 1977 to 1980. He was again elected as the chairman from 1990 to 2009.

After Shishir became an MP, Suvendu Adhikari became the chairman of Kanthi municipality for six months. Soumendu Adhikari was the chairman from 2010 to 2020. Another representative of the Adhikari family, MP Divyendu Adhikari, was also a councillor from 2010-15.

The Trinamool camp is saying that BJP has kept the Adhikari family out from the polls. Minister of State Firhad Hakim said, “He knows that he will lose. So he did not want to fight in polls for fear.”

But BJP state president Sukanta Majumder said, “Our candidates are selected after discussing with everyone. Not like the other parties.”

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