The rebels have said they won’t field a candidate if she chooses to contest. Mamata Banerjee’s possible move to contest the assembly bypoll from Nandigram is growing into what could be a thaw, or a dare, between the two factions of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). This comes even as a tug-of-war over the party symbol has already reached the Election Commission.
She later lost a bulk of her MPs too, though the rebel MLAs continued to say they didn’t have an issue with her as such, only with the nephew. Rebel faction leader Ritabrata Banerjee said in New Delhi on Saturday, “Our candidate selection has been decided collectively, but hasn’t been announced yet. Then he took a dig but also offered a concession. “Mamata Banerjee never wins in normal elections. But she wins in by-elections. Most of the TMC MLAs broke away and chose Ritabrata as Leader of Opposition after the party’s rout, blaming her nephew and party general secretary Abishek Banerjee. She then entered the assembly from Bhabanipur in a bypoll. We will not field a candidate. Win and come to the assembly, and we will work together for development’,” he added.
And it doesn’t look good, right, that Mamata Banerjee lost in her own locality and lost at her booth in this election,” he said, referring to her defeat in Bhabanipur to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who won Nandigram too and became Chief Minister, ending her 15-year reign. The 71-year-old leader has a history with Nandigram.
“She has never won a general election from Nandigram,” said TMC MLA (rebel faction) Akhruzzaman, recalling that she lost the seat in 2021 too to Adhikari, though the TMC won the state and she became CM. “So, now that a by-election is happening, we said, ‘Come to Nandigram.
Trinamool Congress Maintains Strong Presence in Nandigram
In the recent elections, the Trinamool Congress candidate secured a respectable vote share in Nandigram, despite not winning. This region is historically significant for the party, as it was here that Mamata Banerjee led a major protest against farmland acquisition, which played a crucial role in the party’s rise to power by displacing the Left in the 2011 elections.
