Lotus will bloom in my house and Harish Chatterjee Street : Suvendu

Adhikari, who was speaking at a meeting at Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, was responding to recent comments of Diamond Harbour TMC MP and his political bete noire Abhisek Banerjee that he has failed to get members of his family in Purbo Medinipur to join the saffron party and that they are firmly with Trinamool Congress.Mark my words - the lotus will bloom not only in my household, it will bloom even at Harish Chatterjee Street where Mamata Banerjees residence is located.

Suvendu Adhikari, the rebel TMC-turned-BJP leader Tuesday said lotus will bloom both in his house and at the citadel of Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in the city. Adhikari, who was speaking at a meeting at Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, was responding to recent comments of Diamond Harbour TMC MP and his political bete noire Abhisek Banerjee that he has failed to get members of his family in Purbo Medinipur to join the saffron party and that they are firmly with Trinamool Congress.

''Mark my words - the lotus will bloom not only in my household, it will bloom even at Harish Chatterjee Street (where Mamata Banerjee's residence is located). We will go there and ensure it blooms,'' he said. Adhikari's father Sisir Adhikari and brother Dibyendu Adhikari, both TMC MPs have not quit the party.

''Only the lotus buds have appeared now. Basanti puja, Ram Navami are yet to come. Wait and see how members of our houses will let the bud bloom into full grown lotus. We will enter into your (Banerjee) area as well, into your household too to make the lotus bloom (there)''. At the meeting culminating after a over 3 km road show from neighbouring Titagarh in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, Adhikari also referred to the ''pisi-bhaipo (Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhisek Banerjee) run party'' and said ''It has turned into a private limited company.'' ''Everyone else is an employee in TMC. I quit the party as it is not possible for me to become a voiceless one,'' he said.

Adhikari alleged that the outsider comments by ruling TMC about visiting BJP leaders went against the 3.5 crore non-Bengali speaking population in Bengal who form an inseparable part of it. He said the use of phrases like ''Nadda, Hadda, Chadda'' against national President J P Nadda or comments against Kailash Vijayvargiya showed the lack of courtesy by TMC and went against the Bengali tradition of hospitality.

Adhikari said some IPS officers were hand in glove with the ruling party and warned their activities will not go ''unrewarded.'' He referred to the attack on the convoy of J P Nadda on December 10 and said ''The three IPS officers in charge of security on that day are already facing some action from Centre,'' Adhikari said. On the criticism by TMC leaders including Abhisek Banerjee for his joining BJP instead of forming a regional party, Adhikari said ''Why should I form a regional outfit and cut into five per cent vote of the opposition to help TMC win? I left TMC to dislodge you two (Mamata Banerjee and Abhisek) from power. My job is to let Modiji form a golden Bengal.'' Adhikari described the recently 'Paray Paray Samadhan' campaign by government to address local issues as ''bogus and empty rhetoric''. ''All their (TMC) campaigns are a baggage of lies. From the Duare Sarkar (government at the doorstep) to Swasthya Sathi programme not a single person has been benefitted,'' he said.

Earlier in the day in his first public meeting at Nandigram since joining BJP, Adhikari dared the ruling TMC to organise a big public meeting in Purbo Medinipur area. He said BJP will hold public meeting at Nandigram on January 8 where one lakh people will congregate and dared Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to hold a rally as big as it.

''We don't back out after announcing a programme like some others,'' he said at an apolitical meeting after a road show at Nandigram, the epicentre of the anti-farmland acquisition movement in West Bengal in 2007. Adhikari was alluding to the proposed January 7 meeting in the area by Banerjee which got postponed on Monday as a top district TMC leader tested coronavirus positive.

''They(TMC) are saying it (meeting) will take place later on. If they organise the meeting later on, we will again hold another meeting in same area afterwards,'' he said. Slamming TMC, he said ''The office of the bhaipo (nephew) is prodding some people to tear posters and attack our men here. He will get a befitting reply.'' Adhikari, who did not take any name, was apparently referring to TMC youth wing president and party MP Abhisek Banerjee, who is a nephew of Mamata Banerjee.

He alleged that some people who were coming to his road show were attacked on the way by a party. ''We will not take such attacks silently though we believe in the philosophy of peace'', he said.

At Khardah Union Minister Babul Supriyo gave a call for ''dumping the TMC government in the Arabian Sea not in Bay of Bengal so that they can never hatch any conspiracy to return.'' Thousands of BJP workers took part in the road show in which Adhikari and BJP MPs Arjun Singh, Babul Supriyo and Saumitra Khan participated..