‘His commands are directly coming from the top bosses in Delhi’.
New Delhi: Following the election results in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari has cemented his position as the most influential BJP leader in Bengal, with the top leadership of the party giving him complete autonomy over the political affairs in Bengal.
In the last two months, Adhikari has already made multiple trips to Delhi to meet the top bosses of the BJP, which includes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national President J.P. Nadda, to apprise them of the political happenings in Bengal.
The top BJP leadership has also appointed Adhikari as the Bengal Assembly’s leader of the Opposition. Post his appointment, Adhikari has come to forefront on the ground in Bengal, from leading protest marches to the house of the Governor, raking up the post poll violence issue repeatedly, to keeping the Central BJP leadership updated on the happenings in Bengal.
Sources within the BJP in Bengal that this correspondent spoke to said that there is an informal understanding in the Bengal BJP now that Suvendu Adhikari is the tallest leader of the party in Bengal and that his commands are directly coming from the top bosses in Delhi.
One BJP leader who did not wish to be named told The Sunday Guardian, “In the last few months, Suvendu Adhikari has become very close to the central leadership of the party. His victory against the sitting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has catapulted him to where he is today. He is indeed the tallest of all BJP leaders in Bengal. Even Dilip Ghosh now does not enjoy that much confidence of BJP workers as much as Suvendu Adhikari enjoys. He has a direct connection with Amit Shah and Modiji and most of the instructions to the MLAs of the BJP come through him.”
It is also pertinent to mention here that following the election results of Bengal, state president Dilip Ghosh has had not a single one-on-one meeting either with Amit Shah, Narendra Modi or with J.P. Nadda, while, on the other hand, Suvendu Adhikari has had at least two meetings with Prime Minister Modi, and multiple meetings with Amit Shah and Nadda.
For that matter, even the other “big leaders” like Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arvind Menon, who are central observers for Bengal, have not had a single meeting with Amit Shah following the electoral debacle of the BJP in Bengal.
Sources in the BJP say that in the state unit rejig that is likely to happen anytime soon, Suvendu Adhikari will also play a prominent role where he would try to place as many people as possible from his camp to further solidify his position within the party.
Sources further say that Adhikari is also playing a critical role in selecting the MPs from Bengal who could be inducted in the new Union cabinet which is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Suvendu Adhikari’s opinion is being sought by the central leaders on matters pertaining to Bengal. Inputs for the MPs from Bengal who could be taken into the Modi Cabinet are also being taken from him. The state unit reshuffle would also be taken into account keeping in mind Adhikari’s views. The prominence Adhikari is getting within the BJP is because there is no direct challenger to him within the BJP. Mukul Roy was the only challenger to him and now that he is gone to the TMC, Adhikari has emerged as the tallest leader,” a source within the BJP said.
Political observers from Bengal see the rise of Adhikari within the BJP as a positive change since they believe that the Opposition space which almost ceased in Bengal for the last 10 years could be ressurected by Adhikari. Adhikari also has the support of a majority of the BJP MLAs in the state, with Dilip Ghosh’s influence diminishing by the day. Ghosh has been repeatedly telling the media that he is being “kept in the dark” by the activities of Adhikari which includes his meetings with the top leadership of the BJP in Delhi.