Hyderabad: The high-voltage political campaigns have started in West Bengal as two rival parties, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locking horns in all constituencies.
This election will not only see a contest for prestige between the two political parties but will also witness a fight between a mentor and her protege. Matama Banerjee and her former trusted lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari is all up for a no holds barred fight.
The contest will be in West Bengal’s Nandigram and this will be a do-or-die fight for Adhikari's political survival as he had vowed to defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes.
Adhikari had won from the same constituency in 2016 and resigned recently before joining the saffron party.
Following this, it has been considered that Adhikari's fight against his ex-party supremo at his own place will be the toughest ones.
Meanwhile, questions arise that how Adhikari's role in this election will be a vital one and how his image as a BJP candidate will impact the voters of Bengal.
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Though BJP has not projected Adhikari as the CM face, the changing political arena after his resignation indicates his significance in the Mamata led TMC govt.
Before joining the TMC, Adhikari was associated with the Congress and his father Sisir Adhikari was a three-term MP in the UPA government.
Though Adhikari started his political career in his college days, he was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Kanthi Dakshin constituency in 2006 and also became the chairman of Kanthi Municipal Corporation in the same year.
Adhikari became the talk of the town after spearheading the anti-land-acquisition movement in the Nandigram and led the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in 2007. This movement catapulted Mamata Banerjee to the centre-stage of Bengal politics.
Adhikari was pitted against Abdul Kadir Sheikh of the Left Front in the Nandigram constituency in the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election and later sworn in as the Minister of Transport in the Banerjee led second TMC ministry.
As Suvendu's role helped the TMC to gain power in the state back to back two times, he was considered as the mascot for Mamata. And now when Adhikari, the key player of Mamata Banerjee left her side and joined the saffron party, his absence will definitely hurt the TMC.
Meanwhile, Adhikari's joining in BJP along with other TMC leaders will strengthen their position in Bengal as last time the party had able to bag only three seats.
It is also said that Adhikari holds sway in at least 90 assembly seats in south Bengal districts among the 294 assembly seats in West Bengal and especially Nandigram is set for one of the keenest electoral battles in the state with Banerjee taking on Mamata's former protegee Adhikari.
Notably, elections in Bengal will be held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29. Polling in Nandigram is scheduled in the second phase, on April 1. Votes will be counted on.
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