BJP's Sovan, Baisakhi at Mamata's house for 'bhaiphonta'

By IANS | Published: October 29, 2019 05:42 PM2019-10-29T17:42:05+5:302019-10-29T17:50:04+5:30

Springing a surprise that has set political tongues wagging, BJP leader Sovan Chattopadhyay and his friend Baisakhi Bandopadhyay on Tuesday visited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's South Kolkata residence on "bhaiphonta" (Brothers' Day).

BJP's Sovan, Baisakhi at Mamata's house for 'bhaiphonta' | BJP's Sovan, Baisakhi at Mamata's house for 'bhaiphonta'

BJP's Sovan, Baisakhi at Mamata's house for 'bhaiphonta'

Chatterjee, a former city Mayor and state minister who crossed over from the Trinamool to the BJP on August 14, took blessings from Didi (or elder sister, as Banerjee is affectionately called) on the occasion.

Chatterjee, a close lieutenant of Banerjee during her long stint in Trinamool Congress, had been a regular at her place for years on 'bhaiphonta'. But there was a break last year when Chatterjee got estranged from the Trinamool chief because of his closeness with Bandopadhyay and break-up with his wife.

However, after Chatterjee joined the BJP, a number of issues cropped up, affecting his relations with the leadership of his new party.

In fact, the day Chatterjee and Bandopadhyay crossed over to the BJP, there was a discordant note. Bengali actress and Trinamool legislator Debasree Roy - once close to Chatterjee - was seen in the saffron outfit's national headquarters at the same time when the new joinees were there.

Later, Bandopadhyay has repeatedly complained that she was not given any importance by the party leaders, and alleged they had "humiliated and insulted" her.

Recently, Bandopadhyay was seen at Education Minister and Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee's residence, amidst indications that much of the discussions between them was political.

Political circles feel that Chatterjee could be weighing his options as his four and a half month stay in the BJP so far has not actually been a very soothing experience.

On the other hand, the Trinamool is now leaving no stone unturned to recapture the political turf it lost to the BJP in the April-May Lok Sabha polls in the state. The party could be looking at scoring major brownie points over the BJP if it can wean Chatterjee from its fold.

Chatterjee's visit at Banerjee's spartan residence is being viewed as the second politically significant event at the venue over the past three days.

On October 27, leaving aside his serial run-ins with the state government, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar along with his wife attended Kali puja celebrations at the Kalighat house for over two hours and relished "very good" homemade sweets. Banerjee, on her part, received the Dhankhars with the utmost cordiality, took them to her personal room, and was with them for the entire duration of the couple's visit. She also introduced the Governor to her ministers.

Dhankhar was seen hugging Chatterjee, who has been leading the Trinamool's verbal attacks on him.

Dhankhar's visit came only days after he expressed "pain and concern" over the cancellation of two meetings he had proposed to hold in the Sundarbans as the District Magistrates of North and South 24 Parganas districts refused to send out invites.

The Governor had then urged academic, politic and activists to "reflect on worrisome governance issues" that he noticed during his visit.

Dhankhar, who has time and again drawn flak from the Trinamool for "making politically biased statements", "interfering in all aspects of government business" and misusing his "constitutional jurisdictions", had earlier in the month alleged that he was "totally blacked out" during the Durga carnival in Kolkata hosted by the state administration. He called it "an unusual kind of censorship reminiscent of Emergency".

Prior to that there was a stand-off between the Governor and the state government over his visit to Jadavpur University on September 19 to "rescue" BJP MP Babul Supriyo, which the Trinamool called "most unfortunate" and "shocking".

Political observers felt Dhankhar's visit was aimed at reducing the soaring political temperatures in the state over his constant conflicts with the Banerjee administration.

Interestingly, Dhankhar had initially wanted to visit Banerjee's residence for the Brothers' Day programme, but the Chief Minister instead invited him on the occasion of Kali puja.

( With inputs from IANS )

Open in app