Suvendu Adhikari was the Trinamool MLA from Nandigram earlier than becoming a member of the BJP.
Kolkata:
The blockbuster battle in Bengal has been declared. It is going to be Mamata Banerjee versus her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. The BJP on Saturday introduced names for 57 seats within the Bengal polls that start later this month and Suvendu Adhikari is the BJP’s option to take Mamata Banerjee head-on.
The 50-year-old former minister for transport and surroundings had stop in December and joined the BJP within the presence of Amit Shah. He was the Trinamool MLA from Nandigram since 2016 and is broadly seen because the BJP’s most vital acquisition earlier than the polls.
Mocking Ms Banerjee for “operating away” from her long-held Bhowanipore seat, Mr Adhikari on Saturday mentioned he’s “200 per cent” certain of handsomely defeating the Trinamool chief, who’s an “outsider” within the Nandigram seat.
“Why have you ever abandoned your Bhowanipore constituency? Why have you ever run away? Is it as a result of the BJP had gained within the sales space at Mitra Establishment within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? You can not even win in your individual locality,” Mr Adhikari mentioned at a rally in Behala space of Kolkata.
Mamata Banerjee on Friday rolled up her sleeves for the battle declaring she would fight only from one seat and that might be Nandigram. She had earlier mentioned she might contest from her outdated seat Bhowanipore as properly however cleared the air yesterday, handing the seat in Kolkata over to her energy minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.
Simply earlier than that, Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari who’s a Trinamool MP and has prevented touch upon the rift between his son and Mamata Banerjee mentioned yesterday that her choice to tackle his son would boomerang on her.
The Adhikari household, headed by Sisir Adhikari and comprising sons Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu have a stranglehold over the Purba Midnapore district.
Sisir Adhikari is Trinamool MP from Kanthi, his son Dibyendu is Trinamool MP from Tamluk within the district. Soumendu was chairperson of Kanthi municipality until his current removing and Suvendu was the MLA from Nandigram. The district has a considerable Muslim inhabitants.
Mr Adhikari was nearly the architect of the ouster of the Left from Nandigram in 2007 after a bloody battle over land rights of farmers within the space the place the CPM authorities needed to arrange a chemical hub. Trinamool’s sweep in Nandigram in 2007 is likely one of the key components that catapulted Mamata Banerjee to energy in 2011.
The BJP’s announcement incontrovertibly made Nandigram the most important contest of this election with the two-time Chief Minister taking the combat straight to the BJP and, symbolically, all those that ditched her for the BJP.
This week, Suvendu Adhikari had informed the BJP management that he was assured of defeating Mamata Banerjee by “at the very least 50,000 votes” in Nandigram. However a last choice on fielding him in opposition to the highest Trinamool face was left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in response to sources.
The Left-Congress-ISF mix has not but determined which occasion will combat in Nandigram. The ISF had mentioned they might wish to discipline a member of the household of its chief Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui from Nandigram.
