It’s official — Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikai will go head-to-head in Nandigram, in the upcoming West Bengal state Assembly elections. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will be contesting the Assembly election from Nandigram seat, the party announced on Saturday, 6 March.
On Friday, 5 March, as Trinamool Congress released its first list of candidates for the upcoming polls, Mamata Banerjee announced that she would only contest the election from Nandigram and not from her home seat of Bhowanipore.
Taking a swipe at Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari had also called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee an “outsider” on her move to contest the state elections from Nandigram.
Suvendu Adhikari was previously a TMC MLA, but had joined the BJP ahead of the elections.
On 5 March, when asked if this is a tough election, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dismissed the question. "This is a smiley election," she said.