‘Apologise for baseless allegations’: Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari sends notice to former BJP MP John Barla

Barla was denied a ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by the BJP, joined the TMC in Kolkata on Thursday, in the presence of state party president Subrata Bakshi and Minister Aroop Biswas.

After switching camps, Barla claimed that Adhikari had obstructed his hospital project and stated, “Why should I stay in the party if I am not allowed to work?”

Adhikari has strongly denied these accusations. “I am sending him a legal letter. He must either prove it within 48 hours or apologise publicly. Otherwise, I will file a criminal defamation case against him,” he said.

BJP leader from North Bengal John Barla joins Trinamool Congress, in Kolkata on Thursday. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)

Adhikari also said he had limited interactions with Barla, stating, “I have no contact with him. I spoke to him only once after his wife fell ill. Raju Bista sent his phone number, and I called him to inquire about his wife’s well-being. His wife was very ill at the time.” He also claimed that the BJP had assisted Barla after he lost his MP post and had to vacate his Delhi bungalow.

The LoP accused the TMC’s election strategy firm, I-PAC, of scripting Barla’s statements. He alleged, “… If someone from BJP joins Trinamool, they have to repeat the slogans taught by I-PAC. The instructions there are to attack me more than the BJP. John Barla has also done the same thing.”

Adhikari on Friday elaborated on the legal notice on X: “Yesterday, the former BJP MP from Alipurduar and Union Minister of State, who changed parties and joined the thieves’ party after the party did not re-nominate him, in return, the owner of his new party — whom I defeated in Nandigram by 1,956 votes in the 2021 assembly elections — deliberately raised completely false and baseless allegations against me without any evidence, to please her. He has already memorized the script written by I-PAC and has come out in public.”

The legal notice demands that Barla “make an unconditional apology to me in writing and publicly within 7 days. This apology must be published in major English and Bengali newspapers and on the media channels where this defamatory statement was broadcast.”

The notice further states: “You must refrain from making any other defamatory statements or suggestive comments against me in the future… If these demands are not met, I will be forced to take civil and criminal legal action.”