Team News Riveting
Kolkata, January 18
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee had drawn the battle line for the ensuing state assembly elections by announcing contesting from Nandigram.
“I will fight from Nandigram. My soul said to me, Nandigram is your lucky place, your holy place. So, you should fight from Nandigram,” Mamata said at a rally in Nandigram. Banerjee is presently an MLA from Bhawanipore constituency and hinted she may contest from both the seats.
The announcement of Mamata Banerjee added political significance as she had drawn the battle line to take on BJP in the upcoming state polls. The move has many dimensions, of all, is to check the BJP that has been consolidating its vote bank considerably in Nandigram.
The constituency in East Midnapore held the key to bring Mamata Banerjee in the political landscape of West Bengal. The Nandigram and Singur land movement catapulted Mamata Banerjee to the political center stage of Bengal. In the 2012 Assembly election, Banerjee with Suvendu Adhikari’s help campaigned for farmers’ land in Nandigram and ousted the then Left government.
Suvendra, the brain behind the Nandigram and Singur movement that paved the way for the party to strengthen its rural base, recently switched over to the BJP. The development came as a big jolt to Mamata Banerjee. Besides losing a close lieutenant, her concern was to keep party workers morale high in the area that will again play an important role in 2021 state polls.
Adhikary is all set to start a new path with the BJP, which hopes to gain ground in the state with the help of this leader. Adhikary too hopes to make his presence felt in the coming election, in which the BJP would depend on him to gain more support from the people.
Mamata’s announcement to take on Adhikary in his home turf where he and his family have a deep root would reflect the message for the rest of the state to fight an election in which she has been deserted by those she had once trusted and was close to. Besides, the Chief Minister contesting from Nandigram would engage Adhikary in the constituency, leaving least room for him to play in other parts of the region—a role that BJP had planned for him.
