Trinamool Congress rebel Suvendu Adhikari seeks Governor's intervention

Taking to his Twitter handle, Dhankhar said, "Suvendu Adhikari former minister @MamataOfficial has by way of representation sought my intervention so that police @WBPolice @KolkataPolice and administration are dissuaded from implicating him and associates in criminal cases out of political vendetta."

"Taking expected steps," he added.

The heavyweight TMC leader on Wednesday resigned from the legislative assembly. He was the legislator from Nandigram in East Midnapore district.

Adhikari went to the assembly around 4 pm this evening and submitted a hand-written resignation letter at the secretariat.

The speaker, Biman Banerjee, was not present in his office.

Adhikari stepped down as Minister of Transport, Irrigation and Waterways on Nov 27, triggering speculation that he may quit the ruling Trinamool ahead of the next year’s Assembly polls.

Following his resignation, the state’s ruling TMC made many attempts to pacify the rebel leader through several rounds of back-channel talks but failed to convince him.

Adhikari is expected to join BJP on Dec 19 when Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit the poll-bound state for a two-day tour.

The Trinamool has been firefighting to retain Adhikari, who wields considerable influence over the local party leaders in Malda, Murshidabad, Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore, where he was the party in-charge.

After he quit the ministry, the party had rushed senior leader Sougata Roy to reason with him.

Roy had even managed to get Adhikari to meet with his bete noire in the party, Trinamool MP and Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor had been present at the meeting, which Sougata Roy had declared a success.

Adhikari, whose father Sisir Adhikari and brother Dibyendu Adhikari are Trinamool MPs, had steered the 2007 Nandigram land movement which had led Banerjee to gain power in West Bengal.

In the last few years, the rift between Adhikari and the Trinamool top brass kept on widening resulting in the fallout.