Defection at the BJP Office
Suvendu has caused a rift within South 24 Parganas—a traditional stronghold of the TMC. On Tuesday, led by Animesh Mandal—the current Deputy Chairperson of the South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad—several Gram Panchayat Pradhans, Deputy Pradhans, and Panchayat members from the Gosaba block quit the Trinamool and joined the BJP. Suvendu took a jibe at the situation, remarking that those who had shed their own blood and sweat to build the party from its very inception have today been sent into “exile.”
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The BJP broke South 24 Parganas tmc
The BJP has created a divide in the most “impregnable stronghold” of the Trinamool Congress on election eve.Many elected officials and office-bearers from all three levels of the Panchayat system in the Gosaba and Canning-I blocks of the South 24 Parganas district have left the Trinamool to join the BJP. Suvendu Adhikari, the State Legislative Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition, formally welcomed them into the party on Tuesday by putting traditional scarves around their shoulders. According to BJP leaders, the Trinamool’s demise is starting in the same district—South 24 Parganas—where the party’s ascent started with its victory in the 2008 Panchayat elections.
Own Image
On Tuesday, under the initiative of Suvendu and led by Animesh Mondal—the current Deputy Chief of the South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad—the Pradhans, Upapradhans, and members of several Gram Panchayats in the Gosaba block quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP. Meanwhile, in the Canning-1 block, Trinamool functionaries from various levels joined the BJP under the leadership of Shaibal Lahiri—the former Vice-Sabhadhipati of the Zilla Parishad and current President of the Block Trinamool unit. The exodus in Gosaba is particularly unsettling for the Trinamool Congress, as two incumbent *Karmadhyakshas* (executive members) of the Panchayat Samiti have left the party. Additionally, the President of the Block Women’s Trinamool wing, as well as the Pradhans and Upapradhans of three Gram Panchayats, have defected; the number of Panchayat members who have switched allegiance is even higher. In the Canning-1 block, the majority of those who left the Trinamool to join the BJP are former Pradhans, former Upapradhans, or former *Karmadhyakshas* of the Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad. Traveling from Gosaba and Canning to the BJP’s state headquarters at Muralidhar Sen Lane in Kolkata, they formally embraced the party—taking up the ‘Lotus’ flag—on Tuesday afternoon, in the presence of Suvendu and other senior leaders.
It was during the 2008 Panchayat elections that the Trinamool Congress first succeeded in securing control of a District Council within the state. Riding on the momentum of the Nandigram movement, the party not only captured the East Medinipur District Council but also—to everyone’s surprise—secured control of the South 24 Parganas District Council that very same year. Speaking on Tuesday afternoon after concluding the induction ceremony, Suvendu remarked, “The districts of East Medinipur and South 24 Parganas have historically served as indicators of the voting trends in this state. We have, of course, already established our victory in East Medinipur; now, South 24 Parganas has also begun to send a clear message.” Suvendu further asserted, “I can confidently state that the Trinamool Congress has been completely wiped out from the Gosaba block. This time around, we will not allow the TMC to even open its account across the entire Sundarbans region. From Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj all the way to Sagar, the Trinamool will not secure a single seat. Today marks the beginning of that outcome.”
Suvendu Targets Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha Candidate List
Suvendu Adhikari claims, “People can no longer tolerate the Trinamool’s oppression and nepotism.” Suvendu also attacked the list of Rajya Sabha candidates put forth by the Trinamool Congress on this day. He criticized the ruling party for sending Rajeev Kumar, Babul Supriyo, Koel Mallick, and Menaka Guruswamy to the Upper House. Suvendu claimed that people who had worked so hard to establish the party from the beginning have now been banished.”Head of the Opposition” According to Suvendu Adhikari, “novices” like Babul Supriyo and Koel Mallick are now given prominence after the party’s seasoned and experienced leaders were marginalized. He said that people with almost no political experience are currently being fed by the Trinamool Congress.
Suvendu Adhikari said that people are not being admitted into the party arbitrarily in response to this departure from the Trinamool Congress. After careful deliberation with the party structure, the BJP is only accommodating candidates who have a clean public image in their particular communities and who are not accused of theft, vote-rigging, or violence.
Political commentators claim that such widespread defections in a region like South 24 Parganas, which happened right before the polls, have significantly enhanced the Trinamool Congress’s internal unrest. This internal struggle between the “old guard” and the “newcomers” may prove to be a significant problem for the ruling party in the next elections, as Suvendu’s combative style has made quite evident.