West Bengal Assembly Election: TMC to send party veteran to recce Nandigram

Subrata Mukherjee would be camping in Nandigram between February 1 and February 3, visiting every block in the constituency and meeting the workers

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is sending one of its veteran party leaders to do a recce of the Nandigram assembly constituency in East Midnapore district early next month. Nandigram is all set to witness a high-pitched battle in the assembly elections that are round the corner.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (PTI)

While on one hand TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has declared that she would be contesting the 2021 assembly polls from Nandigram constituency, former TMC heavyweight who recently joined the BJP Suvendu Adhikari has said that he would ensure that Banerjee loses by at least 50,000 votes from Nandigram.

“I am going there for a survey. The party and the candidate would then decide on how to go about (with the campaign for the polls). I would be visiting every block in the constituency and meeting the workers,” said Subrata Mukherjee, senior party leader and state minister.

Nandigram is one of most prestigious assembly constituencies for the TMC because almost 13 years ago it had become the epicentre of a farmers’ movement that propelled Banerjee to power in the state.

Banerjee had said she would also try to contest from south Kolkata’s Bhawanipore, her existing seat.

The TMC is facing a tough challenge in Nandigram. In the 2016 elections, the TMC got 67% votes in Nandigram while the BJP got only around 5% but the latter made deep inroads in the 2019 elections and won around 30% of the votes nibbling primarily into the Left’s vote share.

In recent times, members of the Adhikari family, who have a massive fan following in the district, have distanced themselves from the TMC.

The district’s Contai and Tamluk Lok Sabha seats are represented by Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari and his older brother Dibyendu Adhikari. Both are likely to join the BJP, TMC leaders feel. Suvendu Adhikari and his brother Soumendu Adhikari have already joined the BJP.

Subrata Mukherjee would be camping in Nandigram between February 1 and February 3. The visit becomes all the more important because a senior TMC leader said that Banerjee’s sudden announcement of contesting the polls from Nandigram may not have gone down well with some local leaders. One has already skipped a party meeting on Tuesday.

The TMC however is not giving much importance to Suvendu Adhikari’s challenge.

“I personally feel that Mamata Banerjee is beyond such challenges. Every candidate, even if he knows that he would lose, can make such statements,” Mukherjee added.