Mamata Banerjee to contest from Nandigram: It a challenge to Suvendu Adhikari

Kolkata, Jan 18: Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee said that she would contest from the Nandigram assembly constituency in the upcoming West Bengal elections.

This is a significant announcement as Nandigram was Suvendu Adhikari's constituency. Adhikari had recently quit the TMC and joined the BJP.

I will contest from Nandigram. This is my lucky place she said while addressing a public meeting in the town.

It may be recalled that it was Mamata's campaign for the farmers that had propelled her to victory in the 2012 elections. The landslide win that year also saw the end of the Communist rule after several decades.

It may be recalled that in 2007, 14 persons were killed in clashes between protesters against an SEZ project in Nandigram that was cleared by the Left government. Following this, in the next election the

Trinamool Congress began the Ma Maati Manush campaign.

The decision by Mamata to contest from Nandigram is a clear message to Suvendu Adhikari, due to whom there was an exodus from the TMC to the BJP. In Nandigram, Adhikari had played an important role for the party's narrative.

Then a close aide of Mamata, he snatched Nandigram from the Left and made the party almost unbeatable in rural Bengal. Even in the previous elections, he won on a TMC ticket from Nandigram by a huge margin.

If Adhikari decides to contest the elections from Nandigram, it would be an interesting battle between the Chief Minister and her once trusted aide.