Mamata Banerjee’s political challenges intensified as her candidate withdrew from the Nandigram bypoll. This follows the recent decision not to allocate her faction of the Trinamool Congress a party symbol and logo. Nandigram is significant as it was the Assembly constituency where Banerjee, now leading the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress, lost to her former ally Suvendu Adhikari in the 2021 elections.
After unending speculation over whether Banerjee would contest the bypoll from the constituency this time and return to the Assembly, her faction of the Trinamool had announced Sanchita Pradhan Dey as the candidate on Sunday. Because she was seen as a low-profile pick for a seat with such political, and even emotional, significance, the choice of Dey, a teacher at Boyal Primary School in Nandigram who had lost her job following the cancellation of the appointments of 26,000 teachers in connection with the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam, had raised eyebrows.
We won’t bow before the Election Commission. Sources said that Dey met West Bengal Chief Minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday, the day the Election Commission announced that it was freezing the Trinamool name and symbol and neither the Mamata Banerjee faction nor the Ritabrata Banerjee faction would get to use them for the bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar. Earlier reporting noted: Nandigram bypoll: TMC’s Mamata camp candidate withdraws nomination day after meeting Suvendu In another twist in the Trinamool Congress’ internal battle, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the Nandigram bypoll candidate from the Mamata Banerjee camp, withdrew her nomination on Friday, a day before the deadline, said a PTI report. Earlier reporting noted: Pradhan Dey, a teacher who was fielded by the Mamata camp, met West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat, Nabanna, on Friday afternoon.
A photo of this meeting also emerged. The last day for filing the nominations was Wednesday and, left without a candidate, Banerjee sprung a surprise during the press conference. “The BJP did the same to Uddhav Thackeray’s party. First they broke the Shiv Sena, then the NCP, and they threatened that we should join hands with them. We refused, and that’s why they did this to the Trinamool Congress. The Election Commission’s interim order is illegal. How can they issue it after nominations were filed? These are dirty tricks. We will fight and bounce back,” Banerjee thundered at the press conference. She was accompanied by her husband, Satyajit.
How can they seize my party symbol of 29 years?
Her party, she said, would support the Congress in Nandigram, just days after it denied any such arrangement.
Earlier reporting noted: She later withdrew her nomination, leaving the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress without a candidate in Nandigram.
