Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday expressed confidence over his victory in the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls saying that he will defeat her by at least 25,000 votes at her Bhawanipore assembly constituency in south Kolkata.
BJP workers celebrated Adhikari’s arrival with drumbeats, posters and party flags. (PTI photo)
“I talked to local voters and read their minds. Mamata Banerjee poses no challenge. I will defeat her by at least 25,000 votes. I will defeat her for the second time,” Adhikari said.
In 2021, Banerjee had won a by-election from Bhawanipore after losing to Adhikari at his Nandigram seat in East Midnapore district by 1,956 votes.
The Bhawanipore constituency – a part of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat controlled by Trinamool Congress (TMC) – comprises eight civic wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Adhikari launched his campaign from the Chakraberia area.
On Monday, the BJP fielded Adhikari from Bhawanipore and Nandigram, which he has won twice since 2016.
On Tuesday, Banerjee announced that she will seek re-election from Bhawanipore for the fourth time.
And, she fielded Adhikari’s aide Pabitra Kar – a former TMC leader who quit the BJP hours before her announcement—against him at Nandigram.
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“I won’t utter a word about that individual,” Adhikari said on Thursday when asked if he saw Kar as a threat to his Nandigram seat.
“Narendra Modi Ji has directed me to contest both seats and ensure BJP’s victory,” he added.
Targeting Adhikari, TMC spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya said, “If he is so confident then why is he contesting two seats? He will lose in both constituencies.”
After Adhikari wrapped up his campaign for the day, Banerjee met cabinet minister Firhad Hakim, party president Subrata Bakshi and TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar at her Kalighat residence to chalk out election campaigning strategy, TMC leaders said.
Banerjee won the Bhawanipore seat for the first time in 2011, when the TMC ousted the 34-year-old Left Front government. Since she was a Lok Sabha member in 2011, Banerjee had to resign and face a by-election.
She won the seat again in 2016. She made Adhikari, who won from Nandigram, a cabinet minister. But he joined the BJP months before the 2021 polls, prompting Banerjee to challenge him on his home turf. The BJP made Adhikari the leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly after his victory.
“I have complete faith in the people of Bhawanipore. I work for these people 365 days a year,” Banerjee said on Tuesday when asked if she considered Adhikari a formidable challenger.
TMC won 213 of Bengal’s 294 seats in 2011 while the BJP won 77.
“We will win more than 226 seats in 2026. This is our firm belief. Boycott BJP. Vote for Bangla, vote for TMC,” the chief minister said on Tuesday while releasing her party’s candidate list.
Elections in Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29.
