Suvendu advises Mamata to rest at home, raises allegations over aide’s murder

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari addresses a press conference.

Making allegations against the higher-ups in the Trinamool Congress over the murder of his aide Chandranath Rath, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) advised Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee to stay away from electoral politics and take rest at home.

Speaking in the West Bengal Assembly after two newly elected MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hasirani Rath and Sakharav Sarkar, took oath, the Chief Minister defended his decision to vacate Nandigram and remain MLA from Bhabanipur.

In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, Mr. Adhikari was elected from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. The Chief Minister vacated Nandigram, where byelections were held earlier this month. Byelections were also held at the Rejinagar seat. Hasirani Rath of the BJP was elected from Nandigram and Sakharav Sarkar of the saffron party won the Rejinagar seat.

Defending his decision to retain Bhabanipur and vacate Nandigram, Mr. Adhikari said he had denied Mamata Banerjee another opportunity to contest a by-election, adding that she should now step away from electoral politics.

“Had I vacated Bhabanipur, the person I had defeated twice would have got another opportunity to contest an election. I did not want to give her that opportunity. I had trounced her in Bhabanipur, and I would urge her not to contest elections any more. You have already crossed 75 years of age. There is no need to enter the electoral fray any further. You should take rest at home,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Adhikari also spoke about the murder of Chandranath Rath, who was shot dead in Madhyamgram on May 6, barely days after the BJP’s win in the Assembly polls. The Chief Minister alleged that his former aide was killed because of his association with him.

“Chandranath was murdered simply because he was my aide. The CBI has arrested seven people, including the shooters and contract killers. What remains to be established is where the Rs 2 crore ‘supari’ for the contract killing came from. Was it Camac Street, Kalighat or Diamond Harbour? Once that is known, the investigation will be complete,” he said. The reference to Camac Street and Diamond Harbour is usually associated with MP Abhishek Banerjee, while Kalighat is a reference to Mamata Banerjee.

Hasirani Rath won the Nandigram byelection by a margin of 1.22 lakh votes, and the margin of victory for Sakharav Sarkar at the Muslim-dominated Rejinagar was about 75,000 votes. The Chief Minister said the victories had re-emphasised the people’s faith in the six-month-old BJP government. He said the victory at Rejinagar proved that minorities, particularly those who are beneficiaries of schemes of the West Bengal government, had supported the BJP.

Mr. Adhikari said the State government would hand over the investigation to the CID if the Leader of the Opposition, Ritabrata Banerjee, files an FIR over an alleged attempt to loot a vehicle carrying organisational documents and affidavits.

Ritabrata Banerjee, who heads the rebel Democratic Trinamool Congress faction, alleged on social media that an attempt was made to hijack a truck carrying hundreds of thousands of affidavits and other documents while it was on its way to submit them to the Election Commission of India.

West Bengal / Bengal / Kolkata / All India Trinamool Congress / Bharatiya Janata Party / political parties / state politics / politics (general)