TMC's Suvendu Adhikari Quits As MLA, Seeks Governor’s Protection From ‘Vendetta’ Politics

West Bengal Governor Jagdeer Dhankhar on Wednesday said that former minister Suvendu Adhikari has sought his intervention to prevent the state police from implicating him in criminal cases out of "political vendetta".

Sharing a copy of a letter that Adhikari wrote to him, Dhankhar said that he was taking "expected steps".

The letter appeared in public domain, hours after Adhikari submitted his resignation as an MLA amid speculations of him switching over to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress.

"I am constrained to seek your intervention as constitutional head so that police and administration apparatus in the state is dissuaded from implicating me and my associate followers in criminal cases out of political motivation and vendetta," Adhikari stated in the letter, shared by the governor on Twitter.

Suvendu Adhikari former minister @MamataOfficial has by way of representation sought my intervention so that police @WBPolice @KolkataPolice and administration are dissuaded from implicating him and associates in criminal cases out of political vendetta.

Taking expected steps. pic.twitter.com/NXwH914Eog

— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) December 16, 2020

Claiming that he had quit the ministry dictated by a sense of duty and public welfare, Adhikari wrote that this change of political stance has been spurred by those in authority who might resort to indulging in vendetta politics against him.

Adhikari gave up his cabinet portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee government on November 27.
"Unleashing police repression by implication in criminal cases on political considerations is certainly an alarming indicator of governance away from rule of law," the former Transport minister wrote.

Urging the governor to initiate appropriate steps so that police and administrative officials desist from implicating him in a politically motivated manner, he wrote, "surely 'political bonhomie' with the ruling party or dispensation cannot be essential requisite for enjoying liberty and human rights, as is the situation presently".

Adhikari, a leader with a mass base, holds considerable clout in Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and some other parts of south Bengal. He played a significant role in the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram that catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power in the state in 2011.