Party crashers

The departure of Suvendu Adhikari could open the floodgates for an exodus from the Trinamool Congress

- RABI BANERJEE

LEADERS LEAVING THE Trinamool Congress is nothing new. In the early 2000s, several leaders revolted when Mamata Banerjee walked out of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, but she was not worried. She knew that many of them had returned to the Congress, which had a similar ideology, and realised that they would come back to her soon. Several did.

Almost two decades after, Banerjee now faces another wave of defections. And, unlike last time, she is worried. The leaders who have recently left are opting for an ideology that is far removed from hers.

It started when, in 2017, she lost her confidant Mukul Roy to the BJP. He was an astute political strategist and organiser who had broken the Congress’s spine by luring away most of its state leadership.

Since then, Banerjee lost many other party men to the BJP, including loyalist Sovan Chatterjee, and strong youth leaders such as Saumitra Khan and Anupam Hazra. However, Roy’s departure hurt her the most.

Today, when another strongman, Suvendu Adhikari, has left to join the BJP, she seems more worried than hurt. Adhikari, the second son of senior Trinamool leader and Banerjee loyalist Sisir Adhikari, is known to be a mass leader and a competent organiser. He was the man behind two of the strongest campaigns of Banerjee’s political career—the Nandigram land movement and the Lalgarh tribal movement. Both were movements against the left government, and played no small part in helping Banerjee win Bengal.