Suvendu Adhikari Wiki, Age, Caste, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More – WikiBio

Suvendu Adhikari is an Indian politician from West Bengal. Once considered as a close aide of the All India Trinamool Congress (known as AITC or TMC) supremo, Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu resigned from TMC and switched over to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in December 2020.

Wiki/Biography

Suvendu Adhikari was born on Tuesday, 15 December 1970 (age 50 years; as of 2020) in Contai, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal. He did his graduation in Arts from Contai P. K. College, followed by M.A. from Rabindra Bharati University.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx): 5′ 10″

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family & Caste

His father, Sisir Adhikari, is a member of the All India Trinamool Congress and has been serving as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from the Kanthi constituency, since 2009.

Suvendu’s father Sisir Kumar Adhikari

Suvendu’s mother’s name is Gayatri Adhikari. His younger brother, Dibyendu Adhikari, is also a TMC politician. Dibyendu was elected as a member of parliament on a TMC ticket from the Tamluk constituency.

Suvendu’s brother, Dibyendu Adhikari

Career

Suvendu Adhikari started his political journey by joining the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1995. In 1995, he was elected as a councillor on the ticket of INC from the Contai Municipality of West Bengal. In 1998, after the inception of TMC as a political party, Suvendu was among the first few people to take the primary membership of the TMC. Adhikari entered the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for the first time in 2006, as the TMC MLA from the Kanthi Dakshin constituency. The same year, he was also elected as the Mayor of Kanthi Municipal Corporation.

He played a prominent role in the Singur-Nandigram land movement that happened in 2007. The movement was initiated to protest against the decision of the then ruling Left Front government in West Bengal to set-up a special economic zone by acquiring 1000 acres of people’s land in a village. During the entire movement, he was seen at the forefront of the agitation. The success of the movement helped in the expansion of TMC’s political base across West Bengal.

Suvendu Adhikari (in the centre) accompanied by the TMC workers during the Nandigram movement

He made his Lok Sabha debut in 2009 from the Tamluk constituency after defeating his nearest rival Lakshman Seth of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) by a margin of almost 173,000 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, he defeated Sk. Ibrahim Ali of CPI (M) from the Tamluk constituency and won the election from the constituency once again.

Ahead of the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Suvendu was fielded by the TMC against Abdul Kadir Sheikh of the Left Front and Indian National Congress alliance in the Nandigram constituency. After winning the election, he resigned from his post as the Tamluk MP to join Vidhan Sabha.

On 27 May 2016, after the formation of the TMC government for the second consecutive time, he was given the responsibility to head the Ministry of Transport in the state.

In November 2020, amid the speculations of a rising rift between Suvendu Adhikari and TMC-supremo Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu started resigning from state government’s posts one by one. First, he resigned from the post of chairman of Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC) on 26 November 2020. Then he stepped down as West Bengal Transport Minister on 27 November 2020. Lastly, he filed his resignation as the MLA of Nandigram. However, when the speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly refused to accept his resignation on grounds of technicality, he gave away the primary membership of the TMC on 17 December 2019. After two days, on 19 December 2020, he joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) during a BJP rally in the company of Amit Shah.

Suvendu Adhikari with the BJP leader Amit Shah after siding with the BJP

He also took nine TMC MLAs and one MP along with him to join the BJP. Political Pundits termed it as an enormous setback for the TMC ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

BJP leaders and former TMC leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee at a BJP’s public rally at Domurjala Stadium in Howrah in January 2021

Controversy

• In 2010, he was accused of supplying fire ammunition to Maoists in Nandigram, to overthrow the Left Front government in West Bengal.

• In 2014, Suvendu Adhikari’s name came up in the Saradha Group financial scandal. This was after a former employee of Saradha Group stated in his testimony that the company’s head, Sudipto Sen, met Adhikari before absconding to Kashmir. Suvendu had then rubbished any such allegations against him.

Facts/Trivia

• On the same day when Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP, he was accorded with Z+ security cover in West Bengal and Y+ security in other states by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

• Suvendu Adhikari has a great interest in football and cricket.