Mamata Banerjee Fielded from Bhabanipur against her Bête Noir Suvendu Adhikari, Not to Contest Nandigram Seat

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Mar 17: Bhabanipur constituency in South Kolkata will witness the battle of the titans as the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will take on her lieutenant-turned-arch-rival, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing House, in the coming elections to the 294-member state Assembly.

The high-stake constituency is scheduled to go to the polls in the second and last phase of the elections to the state Assembly which will also be the last day of polling for all the four states and the union territory of Puducherry going to the polls simultaneously next month.

Banerjee, and her nephew and Trinamool general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, announced the names of 291 candidates for the two-phase election to be held on April 23 and April 29. She said Trinamool won’t contest three seats in Darjeeling as part of an understanding with Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) which will put up the candidates in these three seats.

Unlike what the BJP anticipated, Mamata Banerjee interestingly would not be contesting from the Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur district, where she lost to Adhikari last time. Trinamool has fielded Pabitra Kar, a close aide of Adhikari who recently switched to Banerjee’s party, in Nandigram.

The BJP yesterday announced its first list of 144 candidates. Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, is fighting on two seats — Nandigram and Bhabanipur. This is significant. While the BJP has not officially named a Chief Minister candidate for the Bengal polls, fielding Adhikari in two seats is an endorsement of his leadership in the poll campaign. This shows the party leadership’s trust in Adhikari, who was once Banerjee’s trusted aide and considered the unofficial Number 2 in the Trinamool Congress.

Nandigram is Adhikari’s home ground. But fielding him in Bhabanipur is an open challenge to Mamata Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress chairperson has dominated South Kolkata’s electoral battlefield for decades. Before she became Chief Minister and vacated the seat, Mamata Banerjee won the South Kolkata Lok Sabha seat six times in a row.

Before she announced the names of Trinamool’s poll candidates, Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission over the transfers of the state’s top administrative and police officers as soon as the model code of conduct kicked in. Questioning the poll body’s hurry, Banerjee alleged that the officers appointed by the Election Commission were chosen at the BJP offices. “As the Prime Minister says, chun chun ke liya,” she said, accusing the Election Commission of picking officers in collusion with the BJP.

Without naming Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, she said, “Why are you acting from behind the clouds?” and dared him to join the BJP campaign. She alleged that the new officers have been chosen to help the BJP move cash and arms in the run-up to the polls.

Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress would win 226 seats in the upcoming election, 11 more than its 2021 score of 215. “I tell the BJP, why are you so scared? Without misusing agencies and bringing people from outside, let’s fight politically.”

The Chief Minister reassured party leaders and workers who could not make it to the candidate list. “All those who could not be accommodated in the candidate list will be accommodated in the organisation,” she said.

She said this is a fight for Bengal’s existence. “Bengal and its Maa, Mati, Manush will win. Delhi’s laddoo won’t. You have taken all our powers, but you cannot take our manpower. Remember, people cast votes,” she said.

In the 2021 election, Mr Adhikari defeated Ms Banerjee in Nandigram by 1,956 votes, following which the Chief Minister had to shift to the Bhabanipur seat from where she won a bypoll and which she currently represents. Asked about the challenge Mr Adhikari, who was named the BJP candidate on Monday, will pose, Ms Banerjee said, “We will win with the maximum number of votes from Bhabanipur.”

Targeting the BJP, Ms Banerjee said the saffron party would see its numbers decline in the upcoming polls. “The BJP’s tally will decrease in this election. They will receive a befitting reply for their anti-people policies,” she said.

Even after her individual loss last time, Mamata Banerjee became the CM nonetheless as the Constitution gives six months for winning party’s chosen leader to become a member the House. She won the Bhabanipur bypoll then by a record margin of over 50,000 votes against the BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal. When the BJP on Monday released its first list of 144 candidates, Adhikari said, “I will win both seats and defeat Mamata Banerjee again.”