The bugle for the high-octane battle for Nandigram started with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filing her nomination for the Assembly seat. She would be contesting against former Man Friday Suvendu Adhikari who quit the Trinamool
Congress last November to jointhe BJP.
The Chief Minister who has been under attack from the saffron opposition for her minority appeasement started her day with an early morning visit to Reyapara Shiva temple before taking the chopper to
Haldia where she filed her nomination after a 500-meter road show amid roaring slogans of Khela Hobe (Game is in the offing).
Post nomination the Chief Minister attacked her opponents for not having shown up in the initial days of Nandigram struggle and only “joined the movement letter when I had organized the local farmers against illegal land acquisition.”
Claiming that she has always been a street fighter and continue to remain so Banerjee said, “my love and concern for the farmers is not artificial… I did 26-day hunger strike for the Singur farmers. This is the reason I wanted to pay my tribute to the farmers by either contesting from Singur or Nandigram and then when during a public rally I asked whether I should contest from here I got a thunderous applause and then I decided to contest from Nandigram which has always been very lucky for me.”
She said, “I am a street fighter … a common person. I am fighting the elections as a commoner only … I filed my nomination with the blessings of the people of Nandigram and will continue to love Nandigram which resides in my heart. I can forget my own name but I cannot forget Nandigram.”
The Chief Minister has been putting up at a private house in Nandigram for the past couple of days.
Banerjee filed her nomination on a day when her principal opponent Adhikari too was present at the constituency. Though the two leaders would not bump into each other the BJP contestant on Wednesday inaugurated a party officer at Nandigram bus stand from where he took out a road show.Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, Adhikari said Nandigram could never develop in the past one decade of her rule because she was jealous of the place itself.
“She is jealous of Nandigram because she is jealous of me … She thought that developing Nandigram would give me additional credit which she did not want. This is why about 30,000 people from this place are still working outside Bengal … there is no job for them here. The six members of families of the martyr (in Nandigram police firing of 2007) could not get job of school teachers despite having qualifications. This because there was large-scale bungling in teachers recruitment exams,” Adhikari said.
In a related development exodus from the Trinamool Congress continued when two State Ministers and four councilors quit the party accusing the leadership of nepotism and bad management. Among those who left the ruling party are State Minister for North Bengal Development, MLA Bacchhu Hansda, councilors Kaushik Chatterjee, Beauty Adhikari and Partho Ghosh, sources said.
Meanwhile the Left Front on Wednesday announced its final candidates’ list led by senior party leader and politburo member Md Salim who will contest from Chanditala in Hooghly district.
The other senior leader would be former MP and leader of Left Legislature Party in the current Assembly Sujan Chakrabarty. CPI(M)’s JNU face Aishi Ghosh too has been given a ticket. She is contesting from Jamuria constituency in Asansol-Durgapur region. Another known CPI(M) face is Fuad Halim who will be
contesting from Ballygunge seat.