Suvendu Adhikari not joining BJP, TMC's Saugata Roy after meeting rebel leader

By Syeda Shabana Parveen
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 1 (ANI): Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy on Tuesday claimed that Suvendu Adhikari, who resigned as minister in the West Bengal cabinet last week will not join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), attempting to lay to rest all speculations.
Sougata Roy had earlier today along with election strategist Prashant Kishore and others met Adhikari here.
"Suvendu Adhikari is not going to BJP. It was a foolish assumption. We had a fruitful meeting with him today along with Prashant Kishore, Sudip Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Things are sorted out. He is with TMC and we will work together to make Mamata Banerjee win again," Roy told ANI.
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that if TMC MLA Adhikari comes to the BJP, he would be welcomed in the party.
For several months the TMC rebel leader Adhikari had been pursuing an 'Ekla Cholo Rey' (to walk alone) and was seen attending programmes in the state which did not have party's name or symbol.
According to sources, several meetings were also conducted between Roy and Adhikari to put to an end all the grudges which he had against the TMC Party. However, all of them "remained inconclusive", they said.
In his first public meeting on Sunday after quitting as a minister in the West Bengal government, Adhikari said, he will work as Bengal's Bengali and that people will have the last word.
"The last word will be of the people and today I am witnessing a huge crowd. I am assuring all of you that I will work as per my responsibility as Bengal's Bengali," he had said.
After resigning as the transport, irrigation and water resources minister on November 27, Adhikari participated in a condolence meeting on November 29, organised in the memory of freedom fighter Ranjit Kumar Boyal, Smriti Alokey.
After Adhikari's resignation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has retained the portfolio of the Transport Ministry with her office.
The resignation of Adhikari, who is a prominent leader in Mamata's TMC, comes ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal. (ANI)