WB Polls: BJP’s Suvendu Pitted Against CM Mamata in Nandigram

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will be contesting the West Bengal Assembly election from Nandigram seat, the party announced on Saturday, 6 March.

(Image: The Quint)

It’s official — Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikai will go head-to-head in Nandigram, in the upcoming West Bengal state Assembly elections. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will be contesting the Assembly election from Nandigram seat, the party announced on Saturday, 6 March.

On Friday, 5 March, as Trinamool Congress released its first list of candidates for the upcoming polls, Mamata Banerjee announced that she would only contest the election from Nandigram and not from her home seat of Bhowanipore.

Taking a swipe at Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari had also called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee an “outsider” on her move to contest the state elections from Nandigram.

Suvendu Adhikari was previously a TMC MLA, but had joined the BJP ahead of the elections.

On 5 March, when asked if this is a tough election, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dismissed the question. "This is a smiley election," she said.

"I don't go back on my word," she further added, referring to her announcement that she will contest the seat at a rally in Nandigram a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, as per BJP General Secretary Arun Singh, BJP's Central Election Committee has approved the names of candidates of 57 seats for West Bengal Assembly elections.

IPS vs IPS

In other big matchups, former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh of the BJP will square off in West Midnapore’s Debra constituency against former IPS officer Humayun Ghosh, who joined Trinamool Congress in February.

Retired IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, once considered to be close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, joined the BJP at its party headquarters in New Delhi. Just four days later, Kabir, who served as commissioner of Chandernagore Police joined the Trinamool Congress at an event in Burdwan, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Kabir, a 2003-batch State Police Service (SPS) officer, was promoted to the rank of inspector-general of police (IGP) in December. He retired from the IPS service as recently as January 2021.

Former Indian cricketer Ashok Dinda has also secured a nomination for the upcoming polls, from Moyna constituency in Purba Midnapore district. He will be facing off against TMC’s Sangram Kumar Dolui.