For Suvendu Adhikari, it has been a challenging month and a half. After the BJP lost ground to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Lok Sabha elections, the knives were out for him in the state BJP and the going got tougher after the party lost four Assembly by-elections last week. Now, Adhikari is at the centre of a storm after an outburst at the state executive meeting on Wednesday where he issued a call to do away with the party’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” slogan and its Minority Morcha.
Sources said Adkhikari now feels cornered from all sides as pressure mounts on him over the party’s failure to meet expectations under his leadership. “His only achievement remains defeating Mamata Banerjee in the Assembly polls,” said a senior BJP leader. “What has he done for the party? He could not help us win more seats. He broke the party into two factions. Instead of accepting this, he is making outbursts and pointing fingers at everyone except himself. His remarks are nothing but an outcome of his frustrations as he could not meet the party’s expectations.”
Last month, after the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally dropped from 18 to 12, Adhikari came under fire from the section of the party unhappy with the influx of new faces. Adhikari had been brought over from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in December 2020 to help the party go the extra mile to destabilise the Mamata Banerjee government. In 2021, months after he joined the BJP and the party lost the Assembly elections, Dilip Ghosh was replaced as the state BJP chief.
But under the new leadership team of Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar, who too is seen as one of the detractors of the Leader of the Opposition, the party has failed to make much headway. Since then, the BJP has lost the civic polls, several Assembly bypolls, panchayat elections, and then saw its Lok Sabha tally drop by six. Post-parliamentary polls, BJP insiders claimed the RSS leadership in Bengal was also not happy with Adhikari.
Under pressure over the repeated setbacks, Adhikari has resorted to public outbursts, with his speeches often seen as issuing threats to the Mamata Banerjee government or threatening the TMC with dire consequences. Last month, facing attacks from within the party, Adhikari told the media, “When things go right and results are in our party’s favour, they take credit. But when electoral performance is not up to the mark, then they blame me.”
On July 14, Adhikari sat on a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan to protest against alleged post-poll violence and on Tuesday launched a website for those who could not cast their vote in Lok Sabha polls and the July 10 Assembly by-elections.
“There is a need for change. No one will want to see a failed leader (running for elections repeatedly). New leaders must be given an opportunity to take the party ahead. If the state leadership cannot move in the right direction, the party will fail again,” said BJP MP Saumitra Khan, who had targeted the state leadership last month too.
“Although Adkhikari tried to wash his hands of the responsibility of losing the Lok Sabha polls by saying he was not in charge of party organisers, he had a say in the selection of candidates for more than 30 seats out of the total 42 in the state,” a senior BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.
BJP insiders said Adhikari believes he is not getting the required support from the state leadership and that is why he is losing his composure. “By attacking the Centre’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ motto, Adhikari has crossed a line. He needs to take responsibility for the electoral debacle,” said the senior BJP leader.
BJP leader and former MP Arjun Singh who too has criticised the state leadership for the electoral setbacks in Bengal has supported Adhikari. Singh, an Adkhikari loyalist, told reporters, “I 200% support what Suvendu Adhikari said. I am seeing the reflection of Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Bengalis now. They are advocating what the great Syama Prasad Mookerjee had campaigned for:’ Ek Desh, Ek Nishan, Ek Samvidhan’. He saved Hindus in Bengal. Now Suvendu Adhikari also spoke about saving the Hindus. This is a clear indication that Bengalis have got the josh to fight for Hindus.”
On Thursday, Sukanta Majumdar said Khan and Singh should be cautious about what they say in public and asked them to raise matters about the party internally. “If there is any organisational weakness in any area then the responsibility lies not only on workers but also on leaders,” he said.
With one of its most vocal critics on the defensive, the TMC was quick to train its guns on Adhikari. “He is a failed leader. He won the Nandigram Assembly seat by switching off the power supply to the counting centre. He has achieved nothing with the BJP. He has turned the BJP into a circus party. We hope that he stays with them for long so that people continue to reject the BJP in Bengal,” said senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.
BJP insiders said Adhikari believes he is not getting the required support from the state leadership and that is why he is losing his composure. (PTI photo) 
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