This situation has arisen after TMC swept the election of Contai Cooperative Bank on December 15 retaining its winning spree in the Lok Sabha elections and by polls which followed. Incidentally The BJP leader Adhikari cannot accuse TMC of strong arm tactics to win as the cooperative bank election was held under the supervision of central paramilitary forces following court order.

Trouble is at Adhikari's door as TMC claims to have won in 101 seats including 15 for directors in an area where the BJP leader cut his teeth decades ago after entering politics. The BJP bagged a measly 7 seats.

One cannot disagree with Trinamool leadership who feel it is the beginning of the end for BJP in the state as the recent reverse is where its support base was once it's strongest. Previous election results affirm BJP's hold in the area as Adhikari's younger brother Dibyendu won from Contai while former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Ganguly whose orders irked the TMC no end won as a BJP nominee from nearby Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency.

On a micro level, the BJP candidates led in 13 out of 14 Assembly segments during the Lok Sabha elections at Contai and Tamluk. One wonders whether it would be premature to conclude that the ground below Suvendu Adhikari 's feet is slipping away fast.

The morale of the rank and file of the state BJP is all the more low as the cooperative bank election defeat follows the by -poll reverses in July and November. This year. The defeat is all the more galling for Adhikari as he had served as the chairman of this bank till August 2021 .He was removed from his post after Mamata Banerjee government's decision to probe the operation of several cooperative banks where he held a position in several governing bodies.

The latest electoral defeat will no doubt help Adhikari's public perception that the leader of the Opposition has failed to protect his home turf. Though Sukanta Majumdar heads the state BJP, Adhikari seems to have inched closer to the national leadership by his proactive functioning style but yet slipped in his home turf.

He had a major say in the distribution of nominations in the2024 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. But he was pulled up when the number of the party's MPs dropped from 18 to 12 showing the first signs of withering away of his support base.

Adhikari has been in focus ever since December 2020 when he switched loyalty from Trinamool Congress. His stock rose after he defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Nandigram Assembly constituency in the 2021 Assembly elections.

However, it was shrugged off by TMC leadership pointing out that the victory margin was wafer thin. But BJP celebrated it and termed it beginning of the end for Trinamool. Though this victory opened doors for Adhikari in the BJP, successive election results pointed out that the party was going downhill. It also led to sprouting of intra-party opposition which was headed by former state BJP chief, Dilip Ghosh.

If the decline in BJP's electoral fortunes continue, Adhikari stands to lose his influence in state BJP, according to party sources. For the successes which Adhikari claims to have achieved, are all flash in the pan variety.

Fact remains that the TMC leadership has been trying to regain the lost ground in Purba Medinipur even as the BJP was gloating over Mamata Banerjee's shock defeat at Nandigram. In 2022, TMC swept the civic body elections in the state including Contai which has been the stronghold of the Adhikaris for decades. . It will be seen now whether Suvendu Adhikari’s stock with the central leaders declines following serious reverses in his own base. (IPA Service)