Suvendu Adhikari Visits NCPI Leader's House Amid Buzz Over Civic Poll Tie-up

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited the North Kolkata home of MP and NCPI leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay on Sunday, sparking buzz over a possible tie-up between the BJP and the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) for the upcoming municipal elections.

Adhikari was accompanied by Transport Minister Arjun Singh.

Chowringhee MLA Nayna Bandyopadhyay and wife of Sudip Bandopadhyay had hosted Lakshmi Puja at her house and her husband had invited the chief minister to join in the celebrations.

"I will not discuss any political matters here. Sunil Bansal, the leader in charge of our state, and state president Shamik Bhattacharya will address this," Adhikari said.

On the visit to Sudip Bandopadhyay's house, the chief minister said the NCPI leader supports the Centre in national interest.

"I came here in response to an invitation from someone with whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi has even shared breakfast. Please do not read any politics into this. No one has come here in the capacity of a chief minister or a minister to visit an MP or an MLA," Adhikari said.

Sudip Bandopadhyay said his party is the second-largest ally within the NDA and the alliance expects it to contribute in some ways. This is where the civic election tie-up comes in.

"We will definitely support them in every way. On this topic, I had a discussion with Suvendu Adhikari about two or three months ago. He also agreed that there needs to be some active participation from your side as an NDA partner," Sudip Bandopadhyay said.

He said a decision on this will be finalised by next week.

The chief minister's visit is politically significant in the light of BJP's decision to fight the local elections solo.

The NCPI, a little-known political outfit, emerged as a new player in Bengal politics after 20 Trinamool Congress MPs crossed over following former chief minister Mamata Banerjee's defeat in the assembly elections. The breakaway MPs subsequently gave support to the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.

Just days ago, BJP leader Rahul Sinha had said the party would contest the Kolkata and Howrah civic polls on its own, ruling out an alliance with other parties at the municipal level. The chief minister's visit to the house of the NCPI leader came immediately after that.