Another blow for Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction, Rejinagar bypoll candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury withdraws candidature

In a fresh blow to Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction, its candidate from Rejinagar, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury had withdrawn candidature on Saturday, ahead of West Bengal assembly bypolls.

In another setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress, its candidate for the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, has withdrawn his candidature, on Saturday.

The development comes on the same day that Sanchita Dey Pradhan, the faction’s candidate for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll, withdrew her nomination after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday.

The withdrawals come amid a major organisational and electoral upheaval within the Trinamool Congress.

Earlier on Friday, the Election Commission of India allotted new names and symbols to the two rival factions of the party, one led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, and the other by expelled party legislator Ritabrata Banerjee.

The Mamata Banerjee-led faction was allotted the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the symbol ‘Football Players’. The rival Ritabrata-led faction was allotted the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the symbol ‘Envelope’.

Mamata backs Congress in Nandigram

Following Sanchita Dey Pradhan’s withdrawal, Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction would not contest the Nandigram bypoll and would instead support Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.

‘We will not contest in Nandigram. We will support our sister party, Congress. This will strengthen the INDIA bloc’, Banerjee said at a press conference at her residence in Kalighat, South Kolkata.

She said Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had called her on Thursday night before she took the decision.

‘We are all together; we will fight together. We will support all normal alliances. We will support our sister parties’, she said.

Banerjee said a decision on the Rejinagar Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, which is also scheduled to go to a bypoll, would be taken later.

Also Read: Mamata faction candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdraws from Nandigram bypoll nomination

Congress candidate arrested in old case

The Nandigram contest witnessed another major development after Congress candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested on Friday in connection with an old case, an East Midnapore district police official confirmed.

A district police insider said Pradhan was an accused in an old murder case and that a warrant had already been issued in his name.

The arrest triggered a political reaction from the Congress, with West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Subhankar Sarkar alleging that the BJP wanted to eliminate opposition from the electoral contest.

‘In this way, the BJP is trying to create a one-party rule in West Bengal. Will there be no opposition politics in this state as well as in the country?’ Sarkar said.

The BJP’s East Midnapore district unit rejected the allegation and said the party had no connection with Pradhan’s arrest.

Also Read: Congress candidate Milan Pradhan arrested hours after Mamata backs him in Nandigram bypoll

Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls

Nandigram and Rejinagar are scheduled to go to bypolls on October 6, with the results to be declared on November 9.

Nandigram fell vacant after Suvendu Adhikari won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the Assembly elections held earlier this year. He defeated Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur and chose to retain that seat, necessitating the Nandigram bypoll.

The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, the mother of Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath, who was shot dead in North 24 Parganas on May 6, shortly after the Assembly election results were announced. Her candidature has added an emotional element to the campaign.

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