West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress party chief Mamata Banerjee will be taking on former aide Suvendu Adhikari in what will be the most closely- watched electoral battle of the state Assembly elections, with the BJP deciding to field Mr Adhikari from his home turf of Nandigram. The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates.
The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 57 candidates for the Bengal Assembly elections, naming Mr Adhikari as its candidate from Nandigram, from where Miss Banerjee has already announced her candidature.
Former Indian cricketer Ashoke Dinda and ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh are among the BJP candidates, party general secretary Arun Singh told a Press conference in New Delhi, adding that it has conceded one seat to ally AJSU. With this, the party has announced candidates for all but three of the 60 seats which will go to polls in the first two phases of the eight-phase elections to be held between 27 March and 29 April.
The announcement comes amidst considerable unrest among the sitting MLAs of the Trinamul Congress whose names did not figure in the party’s list of candidates made public yesterday.
Several of the dropped MLAs are said to have made a beeline for the residence of former Trinamul leader and current BJP national vicepresident Mukul Roy, or communicated with him over the phone, apparently in hopes of securing tickets from the saffron party.
Miss Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant, Sonali Guha, the sitting MLA from Santgachhia, was among them, and told reporters that she had “fruitful discussions” with Mr Roy. She indicated that she might join the BJP during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on Sunday at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground. “I told him that it is not necessary to make me a candidate but I want to take part in campaigning for the BJP,” Ms Guha told news persons.
Another of Miss Banerjee’s erstwhile trusted aides, former TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, formally joined the BJP in New Delhi on Saturday, accusing Miss Banerjee of abandoning her principles and alleging that people of the poll-bound state are distressed with “violence and corruption” under her government.
Nandigram, the site of protests against the Left government which had ignited a popular upsurge and catapulted the TMC to power in 2011, is set for one of the keenest electoral battles in the state with Miss Banerjee taking on her former protegee and now BJP leader Mr Adhikari. Mr Adhikari had won from the seat in 2016 and resigned recently before crossing over to the saffron party.
The Adhikari family, headed by sitting Trinamul MP Sisir Adhikari and comprising sons Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu hold considerable sway in East Midnapore district.
Miss Banerjee yesterday announced her candidature from the seat while giving up her traditional constituency of Bhowanipore in Kolkata.