West Bengal Transport Minister And Heavyweight Leader Suvendu Adhikari Resigns From The State Cabinet

In a potentially big setback to Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari has resigned from the state cabinet.

Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation letter was sent to both Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. "Today at 1:05 pm a resignation letter of Mr. Suvendu Adhikari from office as minister addressed to Hon’ble Chief Minister has been forwarded to me. The issue will be addressed from constitutional perspective," the Governor tweeted.

On Thursday, Subhendu Adhikari had resigned as the chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners.

Subhendu had recently started distancing himself from the Trinamool a few months ago and has not attended office (as a minister) since then.He also absented himself from party programmes.

Subhendu Adhikari, who belongs to a politically powerful family of Midnapore — his father Sisir and brother Dibyendu are both Lok Sabha MPs — has been smarting from his marginalisation by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek within the party’s power structures.

The Adhikari family extended vital support to Mamata Banerjee in her Nandigram agitation and are credited by political observers for the success she could achieve there. The Adhikaris, especially Subhendu, are too powerful in the two Midnapore districts and large parts of the neighbouring three districts of Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram.

Subhendu Adhikari, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tamluk constituency in East Midnapore in 2009 and 2014, was drafted into the state council of ministers in 2016 and given charge of the transport portfolio. His brother won Tamluk in the 2016 bypolls and the 2019 general elections.

Subhendu was initially entrusted with major responsibilities in other districts, including North Bengal. He ensured the victories of the party’s candidates from the districts he was put in charge of in the 2016 Assembly polls. But his growing clout and popularity within the Trianmool, especially among the youth, made Mamata Banerjee suspicious. She felt that Subhendu could soon eclipse her anointed heir and nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Mamata is to said to have nurses feared that the Adhikaris, who had become powerful satraps in the (East & West) Midnapore-Bankura-Purulia-Jhargram belt of south Bengal, would eventually challenge her authority and could pose a political challenge to her.