Following BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s claim at a recent public meeting that Mamata Banerjee had betrayed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Trinamool Congress questioned the sanity of the BJP leader while alleging that betrayal runs in the Adhikari family.
At a public meeting recently, Adhikari had said it was Rajiv Gandhi who brought Mamata Banerjee to politics and gave her a recognition without which she would have remained an anonymous personality in Indian politics. He alleged that on January 1 1998, Mamata backstabbed Rajiv Gandhi. Adhikari claimed that Mamata roamed the streets like a vagabond with no one wanting to give her shelter when another former Prime Minister and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave her shelter in 1998.
This made Mamata what she is today, he claimed. Reacting to this, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said it could be that the harsh summer has further led to the deterioration of the mental condition of Suvendu Adhikari.
“Only a mad person can say that Mamata Banerjee betrayed Rajiv Gandhi,” he remarked.
He said that on the contrary there was enough respect and love towards Mamata from Rajiv Gandhi. He pointed out that Rajiv died on May 21, 1991.
“Mamata Banerjee, to date, has high respect for him. She has equal respect for Indira Gandhi,” he pointed out.
Kunal added that Mamata Banerjee has not betrayed anyone but it is Suvendu Adhikari who is a traitor who despite getting everything from Trinamool Congress switched camps to the BJP.
Kunal said that Suvendu did this to evade arrest in the Narada bribery case since he is allegedly an “extortionist” and a “thief”.
Ghosh said that Suvendu is named in the FIR and yet no action was taken against him.
He reminded that recently Adhikari also allegedly admitted the Narada bribery case in the only proven allegation against him.
“Mamata did not resort to any treachery but she constituted a political party called Trinamool Congress after breaking away from Congress. She had to float a new party because at that point Congress did not want to protest against the CPI(M) due to reasons relating to politics on a national-level,” Ghosh said.
Alluding to Suvendu, Kunal said that Adhikari has lost the ability to differentiate between why Mamata left Congress and why he left TMC.
“He is a shameless person,” remarked Ghosh. The comments from Kunal gained relevance in the wake of Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari, and his brother Soumendu Adhikari pledging their allegiance to the saffron brigade while continuing to hold membership in the Trinamool Congress.
A Trinamool leader said: “Treachery runs in the blood of the Adhikari family.”