Suvendu Adhikari affirms 'Nandigram not a challenge' after BJP fields him against Mamata

After being chosen for the Nandigram seat to face Mamata Banerjee, ex-TMC MLA Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday, Adhikari bubbled with confidence saying 'Nandigram is not a challenge for me'. Echoing his challenge to Mamata Banerjee, he said that he will defeat her and send her back to Kolkata.  Bengal is set to go to polls in 8 phases - March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26, and April 29 with results to be announced on May 2.

Suvendu Adhikari to battle Mamata Banerjee for Nandigram seat; BJP confirms 57 candidates

Suvendu: 'Nandigram is easy' 

BJP's Suvendu Adhikari to be fielded against Mamata Banerjee for Nandigram seat: Sources

BJP chooses Suvendu to battle Mamata

BJP Central Election Committee on Saturday,  announced its candidates for the first two phases i.e - 57 candidates. Tho top names fielded include ex-TMC heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, former cricketer Ashoke Dinda and former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh. While Adhikari has publically expressed his wish, BJP has officially confirmed it today.

Taking up BJP's challenge, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Friday, announced that she will contest only from the Nandigram seat in East Midnapore district, and not from Bhowanipore - where Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will contest. While she also hinted that she may contest from Tollygunj, TMC announced the candidate list for the 291 seats it will contest on. The 291-candidate list includes 50 women, 42 Muslim candidates. The TMC will not contest for 3 seats of north Bengal.

On January 18, Mamata set up the Nandigram faceoff by announcing that she will contest from Nandigram and Bhowanipore in the upcoming state polls. The ex-Nandigram MLA- who was the mastermind of the 2007 Nandigram agitation - responded, "I will leave politics if I fail to defeat her by half a lakh votes". After Mamata announced she will file for nomination on March 11, he responded, "We want the son of Midnapore, not outsiders".

Suvendu Adhikari welcomes Nandigram face-off with CM Mamata, asserts 'sweets on May 2'

BJP's saffron push

The saffron party is gearing for a tough battle in Bengal - aiming to attain more than 200 seats, while not fielding a CM face yet. The BJP had already politically divided Bengal into five parts - North Bengal, Rath Bang (South Western District), Nabadwip, Medinipur and Kolkata, handpicking Shivprakash, Sunil Deodhar, Dushyant Gautam, Bhikubhai Dalsania, Ravindra Raju,  Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi to ta work on booth levels in these regions. With over 65,000 booth committees and 14,000 Shakti Kendra constituted, the BJP has appointed five veterans as central observers - with the final call to be taken by Amit Shah. 

With BJP chief JP Nadda, Amit Shah, PM Modi holding regular public meetings, roadshows in Bengal, the saffron party has also seen an inrush of disgruntled TMC leaders like - Suvendu Adhikari and his two brothers, Rajib Banerjee, Jitendra Tiwari, Vaishali Dalmiya, Dinesh Tiwari and many others. BJP has invited ex-TMC MP Mithun Chakraborty, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly to join the PM Modi on stage on March 7 at the 'Brigade rally' in Kolkata and Chakraborty is set to accept. The ex-Team India captain is yet to do so.

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