Consider joining BJP, Suvendu tells ‘disgruntled’ CPI(M), Cong workers

“Every vote in favour of the CPI(M)-Congress candidate will eventually give advantage to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. Therefore, those within the CPI(M) and Congress, who are frustrated with the TMC’s misrule, should either join the BJP directly or support us silently from outside,” said Adhikari. The BJP recently lost the Dhupguri Assembly bypoll to the TMC by a thin margin of nearly 4,000 votes.

If a certain section of workers from both the parties join the saffron camp the result would be different in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP MLA said. “The Congress-backed CPIM candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy got just 6.52 per cent of the total votes polled. This pushed him to the distant third position but the division in the anti-Trinamool votes eventually helped the ruling party. The top leaders of both the CPI(M) and Congress are misleading their own supporters and dedicated voters over the INDIA alliance. These workers should come out of this labyrinth,” said the MLA from Nandigram.

Slamming Adhikari over his remarks, CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim said, “Had the BJP won the bypoll, then the TMC would have accused us of letting the BJP win by reducing anti-BJP votes. Now, the TMC has won. Therefore, the BJP is accusing us of reducing the anti-TMC votes. Both the TMC and BJP have only one target which is the Left.”

Taking a dig at Adhikari, senior TMC leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said, “I know that they had prepared hard for the bypoll. But the loss has made them very upset. Suvendu Adhikari has lost his mental balance and that’s why he is making such baseless comments.”