Announcing the candidates for 291 of the 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed that she will contest from Nandigram -- keeping her promise of returning to the political theatre from where a key road to her march to power began almost a decade and a half ago.
Reacting to Banerjee's decision, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari dubbed the Bengal CM as an "outsider".
"Honourable chief minister will contest from Nandigram as per the candidate list. Very good, it is welcomed," Adhikari said during a rally in Midnapore yesterday.
He also asked the people of Nandigram to raise their voices. "We want the son of Midnapore, not outsiders. We will see you on the battlefield. On 2nd May, you will lose and leave," he said. Nandigram falls under the East Midnapore district.
Adhikari, who was a trusted aide of Banerjee had switched from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to join the BJP late last year, is an MLA from Nandigram.
The chief minister has often lashed out at the BJP terming it as an "outsider" party in the state.
Amit Malviya, BJP's co-in charge in West Bengal, tweeted, "By relinquishing her traditional seat of Bhowanipore, she has already conceded defeat, even before the first vote has been cast. Bring it on. Bengal is ready for change!"
In another tweet, Malviya wrote, "If the incumbent Chief Minister is unsure of winning her traditional seat, it is because she has sensed strong anti-incumbency on ground. This is just the beginning. Pishi will soon see Maa, Maati and Manush all slipping out of her hands. Bengal will finally see ashol poriborton."
28 MLAs out, 114 new names in TMC list
On Friday, Mamata released the list of 291 TMC candidates for the elections and said she will contest from Nandigram instead of Bhawanipore, her current constituency, where she has been the sitting MLA since 2011.
"We are the first political party to announce the candidate list. Today, we are releasing a list of 291 candidates, which includes 50 women, 79 SCs, 17 STs and 42 Muslim candidates. On three seats of north Bengal, we are not putting up our candidates. In three seats -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong -- Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will contest the elections and whoever wins will support us," she said.
The TMC chief said the party was not able to provide seats to many because they have to bring new candidates forward.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting on April 29. The counting of votes in the state will take place on May 2.
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