Will defeat Mamata in Nandigram, send her back to Kolkata: BJP's Suvendu Adhikari

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s comments came soon after he was nominated by the BJP to fight this year’s high-stakes assembly elections in the state from Nandigram, his home turf.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari said on Saturday he would defeat Mamata Banerjee, his former boss and West Bengal chief minister, and send her back to Kolkata. Adhikari’s comments came soon after he was nominated by the BJP to fight this year’s high-stakes assembly elections in the state from Nandigram, his home turf. “Nandigram (election) is not a challenge for me. I am going to Nandigram to defeat her (Mamata Banerjee) and send her back to Kolkata,” Adhikari said while addressing a rally in the state’s Muchipara area.

The BJP leader, who has said he would quit politics if he doesn’t defeat his former boss, added that Banerjee would lose by 50,000 votes. He has made the claim before as well. (ANI Photo)

Reiterating on his previous point about driving the TMC out from the state, Adhikari told reporters after the rally that he would make the lotus, the BJP’s electoral symbol, bloom in Nandigram and across Bengal. The BJP leader, who has said he would quit politics if he doesn’t defeat his former boss, added that Banerjee would lose by 50,000 votes. He has made the claim before as well.

On being asked whether he would be the chief minister if the BJP wins this time, Adhikari said everyone works as a team in the party. “Decisions in the BJP are not made individually. I am a disciplined and sincere soldier of the party. We all are working as a team,” he said.

The Nandigram constituency is of utmost importance in this year’s assembly elections. In 2007, both Adhikari and Banerjee had headed the anti-land acquisition movement in the constituency which led to the TMC’s emergence as a prominent political party in Bengal. From there, Banerjee went on to become the chief minister in 2011 after ending a nearly three-and-a-half decade rule of the Left Front in the state.

Nandigram is currently witnessing a storm of political and communal polarisation. The constituency has two blocks Nandigram I and Nandigram II, with the first having a 35 per cent minority population and the second with a minority population of almost 15 per cent.

Adhikari, a former state minister and a close aide of Banerjee, had quit the ruling party and moved to the BJP in December last year. He had alleged that the TMC had become corrupt and those who opposed the hierarchy had to face Banerjee’s wrath.

West Bengal is scheduled to hold the assembly elections in eight phases from March 27 to April 29 and counting of votes will be held on May 2.