Poll contest buzz as Dev meets TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek
Telegraph | 12 February 2024
Actor and Trinamul MP from Ghatal Dipak Adhikari aka Dev, who resigned from three government-nominated positions last week, met chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday.
A source in Trinamul said Dev, who had two minds on contesting the polls, had agreed to contest the forthcoming general elections from Ghatal.
"Dev's meeting with Abhishek Banerjee and Didi on Saturday set all things right. He is likely to be a candidate for the party again. However, it is yet to decide whether he would contest from Ghatal or any other seats," a Trinamul source said.
Dev won the Lok Sabha elections from Ghatal in both 2014 and 2019.
Earlier this month, the two-time Trinamul MP resigned as the chairman of the Ghatal Hospital's Patient Welfare Committee, president of the managing committee of Ghatal Rabindra Centenary Mahavidyalaya, and vice-chairman of Birshingh Unnayan Parishad.
The resignation resulted in a murmur inside the party that Dev had been distancing from the Trinamul dispensation and would not contest the elections with a party ticket.
The development also resulted in doubt among top Trinamul leadership that the actor MP has been contemplating for a "second option" to contest the election.
A source in Trinamul said Dev had a long dispute with a former MLA of Ghatal Sankar Dalui but in the district review meeting that Didi held recently, she had made it very clear that the party wanted Dev to be the candidate.
Mamata had also asked everyone to cooperate with Dev.
After meeting with the two top Trinamul leaders, Dev told the reporters that Didi's (Mamata) opinion was a big matter for him before saying, "The politics would not leave me, even if I want to quit it."
A senior Trinamul leader said Dev had a few allegations over organisational issues to contest the election but all the things were set right after meeting with the two big leaders.
"He promised not to leave politics and be a party nominee from wherever he is asked to contest, be it Ghatal or anywhere else," the Trinamul leader added.