New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee refused to bite the bait offered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to avenge her 2021 defeat in Nandigram that forced her to re-contest from the safer seat of Bhabanipur so that she could continue to be West Bengal Chief Minister for a third straight term.

Her once-trusted aide, Suvendu Adhikari, beat her that time by less than 2,000 votes in what was termed a prestige fight. Though Adhikari’s vote share came down significantly compared to his performance as a Trinamool candidate in 2016, it was the victory that mattered more. He cornered over 1.3 lakh votes or 67 per cent in 2016 with a turnout of more than 2 lakh, which was some 87 per cent of the total number of electors in Nandigram.

The then runner-up from the Communist Party of India (CPI) managed about 53,000 votes or close to 27 per cent share. As a BJP candidate, Adhikari collected about 1.1 lakh from close to 2.3 lakh mandates cast in 2021 that accounted for 48 per cent vote share, beating his once-mentor in a close, but definitive, contest.

Interestingly, in 2011, when the Trinamool upset the communists’ applecart in West Bengal, Mamata was the Railways Minister in Manmohan Singh’s government at the Centre. She resigned to assume the office of the Chief Minister, contesting a bye-election from the Bhabanipur constituency, where she resides.

However, against a turnout of close to 1.4 lakh, or about 64 per cent of total electors who cast their vote in the 2011 general election, the turnout dropped to 95,064 voters, or some 45 per cent of the total. But she widened the winning margin by over 4,000 votes, with a massive vote share of over 77 per cent.

In the 2016 Assembly election, her vote share fell significantly to about 48 per cent, and she collected a little over 65,000 votes contesting against Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunshi and the BJP’s Chandra Kumar Bose.

In the bye-election last time, Mamata again increased the victory margin by about 30,000 mandates and more than 14 per cent vote share against the general state election.

In battleground 2026, it will be interesting to see how she fares against Adhikari, who has chosen to challenge her in her citadel, Bhabanipur, while also contesting from the safer seat of Nandigram.

Mamata had, however, thrown the gauntlet inside Adhikari’s fortress without keeping another option in 2021. The Adhikari family has long been influential in West Bengal politics, with several of its members holding key positions. Suvendu’s father, Sisir Kumar Adhikari, is a veteran politician who was with the Congress before joining the Trinamool and has been an MP. Brothers Dibyendu and Soumendu Adhikari are also active in politics.

The 56-year-old Suvendu himself is known for his organisational skills and influence in East Midnapore. He was instrumental in organising Mamata’s fight against the then Left Front Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s plan of setting up a chemical hub in Nandigram, which was subsequently scrapped.

Suvendu entered politics with the Congress, being with the party between 1995 and 1998. He then shifted allegiance to Mamata when she broke out of the Congress, rising through Trinamool ranks, becoming a minister in the state and then an MP.

He quit the Trinamool in 2020 after falling out with its top leadership, and with the historic Nandigram win in 2021, was elected Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. Since then, his vitriolic comments and Mamata-baiting have turned him into a symbol of anti-Trinamool politics.

–IANS

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