Kolkata, Dec 25 West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, in an open forum of the party meeting on Thursday, requested the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, to refrain from making explanatory public statements about his background of joining the BJP before the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections.
In the open session, Adhikari, during his speech, made an explanatory statement that, like many, he did not join the BJP in 2021 either after being expelled from his previous party or out of any personal aspirations.
He claimed that he joined the BJP after voluntarily quitting ministries of five state government departments and the chairmanship of three cooperative banks following the invitations from the central and state leadership of the BJP.
After he ended his speech, Bhattacharya rose to speak and requested Adhikari to refrain from making explanatory public statements about his background of joining the BJP in the future.
“I would request Adhikari to refrain from making such statements publicly in the future, since he has already been ingrained with the BJP,” he said.
However, Bhattacharya did not make any further comment on the matter nor give any detailed explanation on why he made this request to Adhikari.
Sources said that Bhattacharya tried to give a message to both Adhikari as well as to the state leadership that the Leader of the Opposition was no longer required to give explanations to prove his loyalty towards the BJP.
“Our state president gave a message that Adhiakri is as acceptable in the party as the other veteran leaders who have been associated with the BJP since the beginning,” said a state committee member of the BJP in West Bengal.
In his speech, Bhattacharya also explained how leaders like Adhikari, who joined the BJP from other parties, helped in the expansion of the BJP in West Bengal.
“There is nothing called ‘old BJP’ or ‘new BJP’ now. It is just the BJP,” Bhattacharya said.
--IANS
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