BJP sources say Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP's Leader of the Opposition, is planning to contest from the Bhabanipur constituency in south Kolkata, where Mamata Banerjee has lived all her life. This is the constituency that elected Mamata Banerjee in a bypoll after Adhikari defeated the Chief Minister in a closely fought electoral battle in Nandigram in 2021.
After her defeat in Nandigram, the Trinamool Congress chairperson had to get elected within six months in order to retain her chair. So, Sobhandev Chattopadhyay, a Trinamool minister who had won from Bhabanipur, vacated his seat so that Mamata Banerjee could be elected. Mamata Banerjee won the bypoll with a margin of 59,000 votes against her BJP opponent Priyanka Tibrewal.
However, numbers of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections reveal that the Trinamool Congress had lagged behind the BJP in five out of the eight KMC wards that make up the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency. In the Lok Sabha polls, the TMC's lead was reduced to 8,297 votes from the 58,832-vote margin Mamata had secured in the September 2021 bypoll.
Adhikari, who often boasts of his victory over the Chief Minister in Nandigram during the 2021 Assembly elections, apparently told BJP leaders that Mamata Banerjee was unlikely to change her constituency and would contest from Bhabanipur.
Suvendu Adhikari met BJP leaders in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency on Tuesday evening and purportedly issued directives for the party's win there next year, fuelling speculations that he would take on Mamata Banerjee on her home turf in the 2026 polls.
"During the meeting, Suvendu-da asked us to leave no stone unturned to ensure the BJP's victory in Bhabanipur. He also dropped several hints that he would contest from the south Kolkata seat, where the sitting MLA is Mamata Banerjee," said a BJP leader from south Kolkata.
この記事は The Sunday Guardian の March 09, 2025 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は The Sunday Guardian の March 09, 2025 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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