Kolkata, Sept. 19 -- Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress faction has suffered another setback ahead of the West Bengal bypolls, with its candidate from Rejinagar, Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, withdrawing his nomination.
The development came a day after the faction's Nandigram candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, also pulled out of the bypoll race. The back-to-back withdrawals mean Mamata Banerjee's faction is no longer contesting either of the two Assembly seats where it had initially announced candidates for the October 6 bypolls.
Chowdhury said the decision was linked to the difficulty of introducing the faction's new electoral identity to voters within the limited time available before polling. The Election Commission had recently frozen the original Trinamool Congress name and symbol amid the dispute between rival factions and allotted new identities to the groups.
The Election Commission had assigned Mamata Banerjee's faction a new party name and the 'football player' symbol for the bypolls. The change came after the poll panel temporarily froze the original party name and 'Flowers and Grass' symbol while considering competing claims over the party's identity.
The first major setback came in Nandigram, where Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination on Friday. Her decision followed a meeting with BJP leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, according to reports. Mamata Banerjee subsequently announced support for Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in the constituency.
The Nandigram development was followed by Pradhan's arrest in connection with an old case linked to the 2007 Nandigram land-acquisition agitation. Congress described the arrest as politically motivated, while police cited the pending case in connection with the action.
The Rejinagar withdrawal adds to the uncertainty surrounding the bypolls, which are being held amid an ongoing organisational dispute within the Trinamool Congress. The Election Commission's decision to assign separate names and symbols to the rival factions has also become a major political issue in West Bengal.
With candidates from Mamata Banerjee's faction withdrawing from both Nandigram and Rejinagar, the October 6 bypolls are set to take place against the backdrop of a significant shake-up within the party's electoral strategy.
The developments also come as Mamata Banerjee has sought to rally opposition support, including backing the Congress candidate in Nandigram after her faction withdrew from the contest.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.