Battle For Nandigram: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari files nomination

Kolkata, Mar 12: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari, once considered a close aide of Mamata Banerjee filed his nomination papers from the Nandigram constituency in poll-bound West Bengal on Friday.

Adhikari was accompanied by Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Dharmendra Pradhan.

Ahead of filing nomination, Suvendu visited Singhabahini temple.

"My relationship with them is very old. Mamata Banerjee remembers them every 5 years during the elections. They will defeat her. I am also filing my nomination today. I am a voter of Nandigram," he said while speaking to the locals here.

Nandigram, located in East Mindapore district, was the site of the much-talked-about anti-displacement movement that played a pivotal role behind the fall of the 34-year-old Left Front regime.

For 50-year-old Adhikari, the contest in Nandigram will be a fight for his political survival as he had vowed to defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes in the seat or quit politics.

Adhikari won the Nandigram seat in the 2016 assembly election, while another TMC candidate emerged victorious from the constituency in 2011.

The former minister had quit the TMC and resigned from the Assembly last year to join the BJP after having differences with the state's ruling party.