West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday hit back at TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee over his recent "2031 retribution" remark, daring him to contest from Diamond Harbour in the next Lok Sabha election and asserting that the BJP would decide "where he will be" by then.
The remarks marked a fresh escalation in the political sparring between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), with both sides trading barbs over organisational strength and the next assembly election.
Adhikari made the remarks in the West Bengal Assembly during a discussion on the budget demands for the Home and Hill Affairs departments. His comments came after TMC MLA Alifa Ahmed complained that Opposition legislators who had prepared for the debate were not being allowed to speak despite their names having been submitted.
Responding to the allegation, Adhikari said the Assembly could not resolve internal differences within the Opposition.
"I was the Leader of the Opposition for five years. The established procedure is that the opposition chief whip submits the list of speakers to the treasury bench chief whip, following which the Speaker calls members accordingly. If there is any dispute within your own house, settle it there. The chief minister or the assembly cannot resolve your internal quarrels," he said.
He then took a veiled swipe at Abhishek Banerjee, referring to remarks the TMC leader made at a party meeting a day earlier.
"Yesterday, there was a lot of loud talk. Someone asked his party workers to note it down, and that accounts would be settled in 2031. We will see where he is in 2031. If he has the courage, let him contest from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat. Talking big with a gathering of 2,500 people serves no purpose. I draw four times that crowd even at a meeting in a single gram panchayat," Suvendu said without naming Abhishek.
The comments came a day after Abhishek Banerjee, speaking at a Martyrs' Day rally organised by the TMC's Mamata Banerjee faction, accused the BJP of trying to weaken the party through "betrayal" and vowed to politically defeat the saffron party in the state.
"What will the BJP do? Put us in jail? Frame us in false cases? Let them. We will never bow our heads because our backbone is not for sale," Abhishek had said.
Praising party workers for attending the programme despite what he described as intimidation, Abhishek said it marked the birth of a "new Trinamool".
"This new Trinamool will continue fighting in Bengal politics for the next 40 years, and in 2031 it will settle every account," he had said.
Diamond Harbour, which Abhishek Banerjee has represented in the Lok Sabha since 2014, is widely regarded as his political stronghold.
(With inputs from PTI)