West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Friday approached the court against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, filing a defamation suit seeking ₹100 crore in damages over what he termed “imaginary, malicious and vile” public allegations that linked him to an alleged coal scam.
In a statement shared on social media, Adhikari said the civil suit was filed before the court of the civil judge (senior division) at Alipore after Banerjee failed to respond to a legal notice he had issued earlier this month. According to him, the notice had sought documentary proof to substantiate the accusations made against him in public forums.
Directly addressing the chief minister in his post, Adhikari accused her of deliberately avoiding accountability. He wrote that while he stood by his commitments, Banerjee was attempting to evade scrutiny by maintaining what he described as a “deceptive silence.” He added that her failure to reply to the defamation notice concerning allegations of his alleged involvement in a coal scam would not help her avoid legal consequences.
Adhikari said he had acted strictly in accordance with the warning he had issued earlier. He noted that after Banerjee did not respond within the stipulated timeframe, he proceeded with legal action as promised, stating that he had “kept his word” by moving the court against what he called her “deceitful misadventures.”
The BJP leader further claimed that if the court were to award damages in his favour, the amount would not be used for personal gain. He asserted that the ₹100 crore, if granted, would be donated to charitable causes, and urged the chief minister to consult her legal team promptly to avoid such an outcome.
Earlier, Adhikari had sent a formal defamation notice to Banerjee through his advocate, accusing her of making defamatory statements during public remarks on January 8 and 9. In those statements, he alleged, Banerjee had linked both him and Amit Shah to an alleged coal scam, while claiming that she possessed evidence to support her claims. Adhikari maintained that no such evidence was ever placed on record.
In the legal notice, Adhikari had given the chief minister 72 hours to substantiate her allegations with concrete material, clearly stating that failure to do so would result in legal proceedings. With no response forthcoming, he proceeded to file the defamation suit.
Adhikari, who was previously a senior minister in the All India Trinamool Congress government, had quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. Since then, he has positioned himself as Mamata Banerjee’s most outspoken political adversary, with their rivalry frequently spilling over into courtrooms as well as street-level political confrontations across the state.
