Trinamool Congress leader Soumendu Adhikari on Thursday filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging his removal from the post of administrator of Contai Municipality in Purba Medinipur district. Soumendu, brother of political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari who recently quit the TMC to join the BJP, claimed that he has been illegally removed by the West Bengal government’s Municipal Affairs Department from the post of administrator of the civic body.
Soumendu was the chairman of Contai Municipality till the term of the board expired in 2019. He was then appointed as its administrator since elections were postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Senior lawyer Bikash Bhattacharya, representing Soumendu, said that the matter is likely to come up for hearing before a bench of the high court next week after it reopens after the winter vacation.
Meanwhile, following his removal he hinted that he would join the BJP following the footsteps of his political heavyweight brother. “Lotus will bloom in every household. Wait a bit,” said Soumendu who also filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging his removal from his post in the civic body.
Lotus is the election symbol of the BJP. Soumendu had not participated in the recent political programmes of the TMC in the district and a section of the party leaders alleged that he was supporting Suvendu Adhikari’s mass contact programmes in the district for the last two months.
“Remember, we worship Maa Durga with 108 lotuses,” Soumendu told reporters at Contai. Suvendu Adhikari, a former cabinet minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, joined the BJP along with nine MLAs, five of them from the TMC, and a party MP during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally in Medinipur on December 19.
At a public rally on Tuesday, Suvendu Adhikari said that lotus will bloom in his family. His father Sisir Adhikari and another brother Dibyendu are TMC MPs. They did not give any indication of leaving the TMC.
However, Dibyendu Adhikari on Wednesday termed the decision to remove Soumendu from the post of chairman of the board of administrator of Contai Municipality as “unfortunate, unexpected and unfair.” Soumendu Adhikari was the chairman of Contai Municipality till the term of the board expired in 2019. He was then appointed as its administrator since elections were postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Claiming that he has been illegally removed by the West Bengal Municipal Affairs Department from his post in the civic body on December 30, Soumendu moved the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.
Assembly election is due in West Bengal in April-May 2021.
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