Mamata to contest Bengal polls from Suvendu turf Nandigram
CM says not worried about those joining rival parties, leaders left TMC to protect money ‘they looted’
NANDIGRAM: Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared she will contest the upcoming assembly election from Nandigram, as she took her battle for West Bengal to the home turf of political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, who recently quit the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
That Banerjee chose Nandigram to make the big announcement reflects the TMC supremo’s determination to take the BJP, which has launched a spirited campaign to unseat her after a decade-long stint in power, head on.
Addressing a rally here, Banerjee said she is not worried about those joining rival parties as they were hardly around when the TMC was formed.
Banerjee said these leaders left the ruling party to protect the money “they have looted” in the last few years. “I have always started my campaign for the assembly polls from Nandigram. It is a lucky place for me. So this time I feel that I should contest the assembly polls from here. I request our state party president Subrata Bakshi to approve my name from this seat,” Banerjee said. Bakshi, who was on the podium, swiftly accepted the request.
Nandigram was the scene of massive public protest against “forcible” land acquisition by the then Left Front government for creation of a special economic zone.
The protests added to Banerjee and her party’s political heft and catapulted the TMC to power in 2011, marking the end of Left Front rule of 34 years.
Banerjee is at present the MLA from Bhawanipore in south Kolkata.
Adhikari is considered the face of the movement in Nandigram.
Reacting to Banerjee’s announcement, Adhikari saud he will defeat her in the election or quit politics.
“If I am fielded by my party from Nandigram, I will defeat her by a margin of at least 50,000 votes or I will quit politics,” he asserted.