Bengal hots up: Congress’s Nandigram candidate held after getting Mamata backing - The Indian Express

Hours after the Election Commission of India allotted alternative names and symbols to the TMC factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy, the former Chief Minister Friday withdrew her candidate for the October 6 Assembly bypoll in Nandigram and extended support to the Congress. She also moved the Supreme Court against the EC decision to freeze the original TMC name and symbol. But in a jolt to the Opposition, the Congress candidate, Milan Pradhan, was arrested in a murder case dating back to 2007, the year Nandigram was rocked by an agitation over land acquisition. The BJP candidate from Nandigram is Hasirani Rath, mother of Chandranath Rath, Suvendu Adhikari’s aide who was killed days before Adhikari became Chief Minister in May this year. The Mamata faction candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, met Adhikari Thursday, a day before opting out of the race. The Mamata faction and the Congress slammed the BJP over the arrest of Milan Pradhan and demanded his release. Banerjee, in a post on X, said, “Minutes after we extended our support to the Congress candidate for the bypoll in Nandigram, Congress candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested. The timing raises serious questions and is the usual BJP formula: dig out an old case. But why now? Just after we announced support to the Congress! The BJP’s politics of vendetta and atrocities show a clear pattern. With manipulation, with vote loot, with intimidation, the Election Agency-BJP partnership is killing democracy every day.” Congress state president Subhankar Sarkar, addressing reporters, said, “Only one party and its accomplices will contest polls? There will be no multi-party system. The arrest of our candidate just shows this.” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The BJP is afraid because all the parties opposed to the BJP are joining hands with the Congress. And it is out of this fear that the Nandigram candidate is now facing arrest in connection with an old case. What was the police doing all this time? Even when the candidate submitted the affidavit at the District Magistrate’s office, the DM raised no issue. And now, right in the middle of the campaign, when they can sense the momentum shifting towards the Congress, the BJP is panicking. Is that why this sudden arrest? The Congress has never bowed its head, and it never will. If necessary, even if our candidate is kept in police custody, we will still fight this election.” A formal statement from the police on Pradhan’s arrest was awaited. A police officer said Pradhan was among the accused in a murder case dating back to the Nandigram land agitation in 2007. There was a pending warrant against him, the officer said, adding that Pradhan will be produced in court Saturday. Madan Mitra, MLA from Kamarhati who belongs to the TMC faction opposed to Banerjee, said, “If there is a pending case, the police and administration can arrest anyone. Mamata Banerjee should have supported our candidate, not the Congress. The Congress has no base there.” Earlier in the day, the Election Commission, which had frozen the TMC name and symbol Thursday, allotted separate names and symbols to the factions led by Banerjee and Arup Roy. The Banerjee faction will now be called ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ with a ‘football player’ as its symbol. The rebel faction will be called the ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’, and its symbol will be an ‘envelope’. Hitting out at the EC and BJP, Banerjee said, “First, our bank account was frozen. Now, they have frozen my party’s symbol and name. Earlier, they did this with Uddhav Thackeray. And now, us. It is a black day for democracy. What happened is illegal and against the Constitution. But we will fight it out. Rahul Gandhi called me last night. Arvind Kejriwal stood with us along with many other leaders. Our INDIA alliance stands together. We will together fight the BJP.” She said she would fight and win back her party’s name and symbol, and would back the Congress candidate in the Nandigram bypoll. The announcement came after her faction’s candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination. Asked why Dey withdrew her nomination, Banerjee said, “She was threatened. Earlier, she sent us a message that she wanted to contest, and we nominated her. But we have decided to support the Congress.” Targeting the BJP, she said, “They are not letting us hold rallies. Over 14,000 of our workers have been arrested by police who are working on BJP’s behalf in Bengal. I am virtually under house arrest. But we will fight against all this. We will not surrender and we will bounce back.” While Nandigram and Rejinagar will go to polls on October 6, elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation will be held after Durga Puja.

Ravik Bhattacharya is a highly experienced and award-winning journalist currently s... Read More

Damini Nath is an Assistant Editor with the national bureau of The Indian Express. She covers the ho... Read More