‘Will take care of Pushpa’: West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari in Abhishek lair after unseating Didi

KOLKATA: CM Suvendu Adhikari took his first political programme outside his own constituencies to Falta in South 24 Parganas on Saturday — squarely in Abhishek Banerjee's Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency — in a pointed move at a Trinamool stronghold days after he unseated former CM Mamata Banerjee from Bhowanipore.

Falta goes for a repoll on May 21 after widespread allegations of electoral malpractice and the high-voltage "Pushpa-Singham" confrontation between outgoing Trinamool MLA Jahangir Khan and EC-appointed poll observer Ajay Pal Sharma.







Addressing a rally, Adhikari took direct aim at Jahangir, who had compared himself to the blockbuster film Pushpa's smuggler-turned-strongman. "Where is that Pushpa — the dacoit? He is not seen anywhere now. The National Human Rights Commission declared 19 persons as notorious criminals in 2021. Jahangir was one of them. Leave him to me. I will take care of him," the CM said.

Ahead of the rally, police arrested Saidul Khan, a close aide of Jahangir and Trinamool's Falta vice-president, on multiple charges including death threats.

Adhikari also trained his guns on Trinamool's alleged corruption, citing "Leaps and Bounds" — a company he claimed has 24 properties in Kolkata and a "palatial office at Amtala" — and announcing that police would register complaints against anyone found to have siphoned funds from central schemes including PM Kisan, Krishak Bandhu and Amphan relief.

"The accused will be put behind bars," he said. He added that call records and WhatsApp chats of three IPS officers who were suspended for allegedly mishandling the RG Kar rape-murder case probe — Vineet Goyal, Indira Mukherjee and Abhishek Gupta — were being examined. "You will get to see the misdeeds of the previous govt once these are investigated," he said.

Urging voters to ensure a peaceful repoll, Adhikari said BJP MLAs would facilitate the return of those displaced by post-poll violence, provided they were not accused of violence themselves. He also assured that all complaints of torture over the past five years would be registered. "None of the 20 BJP-governed states have any record of violence during polls," he said. He will return to Falta for a full day of campaigning on Tuesday.