Suvendu Adhikari dares Bengal CM to sue him over claims of her seeking HM Shah's help

Kolkata, April 20 West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday dared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to file a legal suit against him for claiming that she had sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention for restoration of national party status to Trinamool Congress.

Once a legal suit is filed against him, he will be able to appeal to the court to make Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) a party in the suit so that the call details of the two landlines at the chief ministers' office from March 4, 2023 to April 12, 2023 can be revealed, he said.

"I have already received a legal notice from Trinamool Congress on this count. I want them or rather challenge the chief minister to file a legal suit against me. In that case, I will be able to contest that and appeal to the court to make TRAI a party in the matter so that the call details of her official landline numbers are revealed. There is a restriction for any individual to get such details and hence right now I am not able to get the same through RTI and circulate among media persons. So, I challenge them to file a legal suit against me," the leader of the opposition told media persons this afternoon.

On April 18, while addressing a public rally at Singur in Hooghly district, Adhikari claimed that immediately after the Election of Commission of India (ECI) withdrew the national party status of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee rang up Amit Shah with a plea to retain Trinamool's national party status until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"She had appealed to Amit Shah to retain Trinamool's national party status till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, the Home Minister clearly told her that the commission's decision cannot be reversed by him since ECI is an autonomous body," Adhikari said on April 18.

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee told media persons she is even ready to resign as the chief minister if the claims of her calling the Union home minister is proved.