We'll back Congress: Mamata after her candidate withdraws from Nandigram bypoll
We'll back Congress: Mamata after her candidate withdraws from Nandigram bypoll
M.U.H
18/09/20269
Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced her support for Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in the Nandigram bypoll after her own candidate withdrew from the contest.
Banerjee said her camp would not field another candidate from Nandigram and framed the decision as a show of solidarity with the INDIA alliance in its fight against the BJP.
“We are ready to fight it out. I want the BJP to go from India. Our full solidarity is with the INDIA alliance,” Banerjee said at a press conference.
She also referred to conversations with other INDIA bloc leaders, saying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had called her on Thursday and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had also posted a message of support.
The announcement came hours after Sanchita Pradhan De, the candidate fielded by the Mamata-led Trinamool faction in Nandigram, withdrew her candidature with barely a month to go for the October 6 bypoll.
De’s withdrawal followed a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat in Nabanna. The meeting had initially been described by sources as a courtesy call, but drew attention given that Adhikari is a former Nandigram MLA and one of Banerjee’s principal political rivals.
BOTH TMC FACTIONS GET NEW NAME, SYMBOL
The developments unfolded on a turbulent day for Banerjee’s faction, which was also allotted a new name and election symbol after the Election Commission froze the Trinamool Congress name and its traditional “flowers and grass” symbol amid a dispute between the party’s rival factions.
For the upcoming bypolls, Banerjee’s faction will contest as the “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” with a football player as its symbol. The rival faction has been allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and an envelope as its symbol.
The arrangement is temporary and applies to the upcoming bypolls as the Election Commission considers the competing claims over the Trinamool Congress name and symbol.
The poll body had on Thursday frozen the “All India Trinamool Congress” name and the “flowers and grass” symbol, preventing either faction from using the political identity associated with the party since its formation in 1998.
MAMATA ATTACKS EC ORDER
Banerjee reacted sharply to the Election Commission’s decision, calling it a “black day” in India’s democratic history and alleging “political bias and vendetta”.
She questioned the decision to freeze the party’s name and symbol and alleged that it was intended to satisfy the “ego” of a political party.
Banerjee also alleged that her faction’s accounts had been frozen and its workers were being targeted. She claimed that police had become an “arm” of the ruling BJP and that party workers were being pressured to switch sides.
She further claimed that around 14,000 party workers were in jail and that she herself was under house arrest and unable to meet workers.
Banerjee indicated that her faction would challenge the EC's arrangement, saying, “We will never bow down our head and we will bounce back."
She also sought to underline her claim to the political legacy of the party she founded, saying, “I cannot leave All India Trinamool Congress until I leave this world.”
THE TMC SPLIT REVISITED
The dispute began within the legislature party before spreading to the party’s parliamentary ranks and eventually reaching the Election Commission, with both sides staking claim to the Trinamool name and its election symbol.
In June, 58 rebel MLAs backed expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition instead of the Mamata camp’s nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. Ritabrata subsequently secured recognition from the Assembly Speaker, formalising the split within the legislature party.
Five days later, the rebellion spread to Parliament, where 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by senior leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar joined the NCPI and wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla backing the BJP-led NDA as a separate bloc.
A section of legislators also backed a parallel leadership structure, with senior MLA Arup Roy named its chairperson.
The dispute eventually reached the Election Commission, with both factions claiming the Trinamool Congress name and the “flowers and grass” symbol.
