VETERAN TMC MP Sisir Adhikari - father of BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari - joined the BJP here on Sunday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the party. The patriarch of the Adhikari family -- which wields considerable influence in Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district -- said that he had to work really hard to rise through the ranks in the TMC, but the treatment meted out to him and his sons, of late, forced him to switch camp.

 

“The way our family was driven out (of TMC) will be forever written in history. We will rise against all political attacks and atrocities in Bengal. We will work under Modiji and Amit Shahji,” Lok Sabha MP said, chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Earlier in the day, Adhikari had asserted that his son Suvendu, locked in a fierce battle with Chief Minister and TMC boss Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, will bag the seat at ease. Mamata calls herself “donkey” for not recognising “true face” of Adhikari family: WEST Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday blamed herself for not recognising the “true face” of the influential Adhikari family of Purba Medinipur district and called herself a “big donkey” for being unable to do so.

 

Venting her ire against Suvendu Adhikari, her protege-turned-rival who is pitted against the TMC leader from Nandigram constituency for the coming Assembly polls, Banerjee said at an election rally here, she had even heard rumours the Adhikari family had built an empire worth Rs 5,000 crore.