Amid a growing factional feud within the Trinamool Congress (TMC), former chief minister Mamata Banerjee suffered another setback on Saturday after her candidate for the Rejinagar bypoll, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, withdrew his nomination.
Chowdhury, a three-time MLA, withdrew from the contest a day after the Election Commission allotted separate names and symbols to the rival factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee.
Chowdhury said his supporters were being threatened and that the short campaign period would not give voters enough time to familiarise themselves with the new party name and symbol.
“How will I contest? Party workers are unable to come out to support me. They are being threatened. It is also too late for voters to get familiar with the new party symbol,” he said on Saturday.
On Friday, the Election Commission allotted Mamata’s faction the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘football player’ symbol for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls, scheduled for October 6. The Ritabrata-led faction was allotted the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the envelope symbol.
Soon after the EC’s decision, Mamata’s candidate in Nandigram, Sanchita Pradhan, withdrew from the contest. The party subsequently announced its support for the Congress candidate.
“In Nandigram, we are going to give our support to the Congress party; it is for the greater interest of the country. And in Rejinagar, I will decide it later,” Mamata said on Friday.
Chowdhury was elected as a Congress MLA from Rejinagar in 2013 and 2016 before winning the constituency on a TMC ticket in 2021. In the 2026 Assembly elections, Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder and former TMC MLA Humayun Kabir won the seat. Kabir, who also won the Nowada seat, later vacated the Rejinagar seat.
The withdrawal of both her candidates has put Mamata on the back foot. Sanchita withdrew from the contest after meeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mamata’s decision to extend support to the Congress in Nandigram also suffered a jolt after the party’s candidate, Milan Pradhan, was arrested from Sonachura in an old murder case on Friday.
