AHEAD of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first rally in West Bengal after declaration of the ballot schedule, on the historic Brigade Parade Ground, the BJP Saturday threw down one other gauntlet within the high-voltage battle for the state. It introduced that will probably be fielding Suvendu Adhikari, the Trinamool chief who lately crossed over to the BJP, from Nandigram in opposition to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Mamata had catapulted to energy in 2011 on the energy of the anti-land acquisition protest in Nandigram, together with her then protege Adhikari the face of the agitation on the bottom — making Nandigram essentially the most prestigious contest within the Assembly elections beginning March 27. Adhikari had gained from the Nandigram seat final time, whereas Mamata introduced earlier that she could be contesting from right here as a substitute of her conventional seat of Bhabanipur in Kolkata.
The BJP declared candidate for 56 of the 60 seats that can go to polls in first two of the eight phases in West Bengal. The different outstanding names to get tickets Saturday had been former Indian cricketer Ashok Dinda and ex-IPS officer Bharati Ghosh. The BJP has left one seat of the 60 (Baghmundi in Purulia district) for ally All Jharkhand Students’ Union.
Soon after he was given the BJP ticket, Adhikari introduced, “I am Nandigram’s Bhumi Putra. She (Mamata) is an outsider here. I will defeat her and send her back to Kolkata.”
In Debra in West Midnapore, the BJP’s Bharati Ghosh will face one other former IPS officer, Humayun Kabir, standing on the Trinamool ticket. While that is Kabir’s ballot debut, Ghosh, a BJP vice-president, additionally contested the Lok Sabha elections. Kabir lately resigned because the Commissioner of Chandannagar Police Commissionerate, months earlier than his retirement. Ghosh, the previous police chief of the then Naxal-dominated Junglemahal space, was near Mamata at one time however had a falling out over a CID?investigation into extortion costs.
Former pacer Dinda has obtained a ticket from Moyna in East Midnapore, whereas the BJP has fielded Tapashi Mondal, a former CPM MLA, from Haldia and former IIM-C professor Ambuj Mohanti from Patashpur in the identical district.
The BJP is asking Modi’s Sunday rally the fruits of its Parivartan Yatras throughout the state, on since February. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh mentioned, “Tomorrow Modiji will address a massive rally at Brigade. Workers from across the state are coming to attend it. The Prime Minister will set the tone for the election campaign.”
Banners, posters and cutouts of the PM have been put up throughout town to welcome him, with the celebration organising flash mobs over the previous few weeks within the run-up to the rally. Several high BJP leaders are anticipated to be current on the assembly.
Bollywood celebrity Akshay Kumar and actor Mithun Chakraborty may be additionally current on the dais. Amidst intense hypothesis about Chakraborty becoming a member of the BJP, nationwide common secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya Saturday mentioned nothing had been mentioned concerning the identical.
Once thought of near the CPM, Chakraborty was given a ticket to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool, although he resigned in a few years later saying he wished to stop politics. Recently, Chakraborty had met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at his Mumbai dwelling, additional fuelling hypothesis of the actor foraying into politics.
Modi is scheduled to carry greater than 20 rallies within the state over the course of the election, with the final part on April 29.
