Drawing on her reputation of being a political 'fighter', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared she wanted to contest the upcoming Assembly polls from Nandigram.
Mamata made the announcement at a rally in Nandigram on Monday. Nandigram has been the bastion of her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP in December. Suvendu Adhikari had won the Nandigram Assembly seat in the 2016 Assembly election.
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Mamata told the rally participants, she was "not worried about those changing sides;when TMC was formed none of them were there". Mamata was quoted by ANI as saying, “I will contest from Nandigram Assembly seat. If possible, I will contest from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram.” Mamata emphasised, “I won't neglect Bhabanipur. I will give a good candidate in Bhabanipur.” Mamata had won from Bhabanipur in both 2011 and 2016 Assembly polls.
Along with Singur, Nandigram has been a place of historic importance in the rise of the Trinamool Congress. The party orchestrated protests in the region in 2007 to oppose an industrialisation project there. The agitations in Singur and Nandigram played a significant role in boosting popularity of Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress and paved the way to ending nearly four decades of CPI(M) rule in 2011. Suvendu Adhikari was one of the 'architects' of the Nandigram agitation.
