Mamata Banerjee to face ex-aide Suvendu Adhikari as BJP rival in Bengal polls | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
June 14, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025
Mamata Banerjee to face ex-aide Suvendu Adhikari as BJP rival in Bengal polls

South Asia

TBS Report
06 March, 2021, 08:40 pm
Last modified: 06 March, 2021, 08:58 pm

Related News

  • Day after India strikes Pakistan, BJP says nobody wants war
  • Mamata rejects Waqf law, urges calm in violence-hit Murshidabad
  • Trinamool government seeks inclusion in GWST talks between India and Bangladesh
  • India’s next election has a theme — southern discomfort
  • Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister in BJP's grand power show

Mamata Banerjee to face ex-aide Suvendu Adhikari as BJP rival in Bengal polls

Mamata Banerjee rolled up her sleeves for the war on Friday, declaring that she would only fight from one seat, Nandigram

TBS Report
06 March, 2021, 08:40 pm
Last modified: 06 March, 2021, 08:58 pm
Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari. Photo: NDTV
Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari. Photo: NDTV

Mamata Banerjee will face off against her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari for Nandigram in the Bengal polls 2021, which will begin later this month.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced names for 57 seats for the Bengal polls, reports NDTV.

In December, the 50-year-old former transport and environment minister resigned and joined the BJP in the presence of Amit Shah. 

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

He has been the Trinamool MLA for Nandigram since 2016 and is widely regarded as the BJP's most significant acquisition ahead of the elections.

Mamata Banerjee rolled up her sleeves for the war on Friday, declaring that she would only fight from one seat, Nandigram.

She had previously stated that she would run for her old seat of Bhowanipore, but she clarified the situation yesterday by handing over the Bhowanipore seat in Kolkata to her power minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.

Just before that, Suvendu Adhikari's father Sisir Adhikari who is a Trinamool MP and has avoided comment on the rift between his son and Mamata Banerjee said yesterday that her decision to take on his son would boomerang on her.

The Adhikari family, headed by Sisir Adhikari and comprising sons Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu have a stranglehold over the Purba Midnapore district.

Sisir Adhikari is Trinamool MP from Kanthi, his son Dibyendu is Trinamool MP from Tamluk in the district. Soumendu was chairperson of Kanthi municipality till his recent removal and Suvendu was the MLA from Nandigram. The district has a substantial Muslim population.

Mr Adhikari was virtually the architect of the ouster of the Left from Nandigram in 2007 after a bloody battle over land rights of farmers in the area where the CPM government wanted to set up a chemical hub. Trinamool's sweep in Nandigram in 2007 is one of the key factors that catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011.

The BJP's announcement incontrovertibly made Nandigram the most important contest of this election has been set up at Nandigram, with the two-time Chief Minister taking the fight straight to the BJP and, symbolically, all those who ditched her for the BJP.

This week, Suvendu Adhikari had told the BJP leadership that he was confident of defeating Mamata Banerjee by "at least 50,000 votes" in Nandigram. But a final decision on fielding him against the top Trinamool face was left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to sources.

Responding to her announcement on Friday, Mr Adhikari flipped the "outsider" tag used by Mamata Banerjee against the BJP, and paint himself as a "son" of Midnapore - the region that Nandigram falls in.

The Left-Congress-ISF combine has not yet decided which party will fight in Nandigram. The ISF had said they could like to field a member of the family of its leader Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui from Nandigram.

Top News / World+Biz

Mamata Banerjee / ex-aide / Suvendu Adhikari / BJP / Bengal polls

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infographic: TBS
    Govt plans incentives for Bangladeshis bringing in foreign investment
  • Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv. REUTERS/Jamal Awad
    Iran launches waves of missiles at Israel in response to airstrikes
  • National Institute of Opthalmology and Hospital. Photo: UNB
    Ophthalmology institute fully reopens after 17 days

MOST VIEWED

  • Energy adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan with other government officials during a visit to Sylhet gas field on 13 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    I would disconnect gas supply to every home in Dhaka if I could: Energy adviser
  • BNP Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and Chief Adviser  Muhammad Yunus meet at Dorchester Hotel in London, UK on 13 June 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    National polls possible in 2nd week of February, agree Yunus, Tarique in 'historic' London meeting
  • Rescuers work at the scene of a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Tehran retaliates with 100 drones after Israel strikes Iran's nuclear facilities, kills military leaders
  • From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
    From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
  • UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus
    Disclosure of unconfirmed Yunus-Starmer meeting shows ‘diplomatic imprudence’: Analysts
  • Flight AI 379 had landed. File Photo: Hindustan Times
    Day after Ahmedabad crash, Air India flight makes emergency landing in Thailand after bomb threat

Related News

  • Day after India strikes Pakistan, BJP says nobody wants war
  • Mamata rejects Waqf law, urges calm in violence-hit Murshidabad
  • Trinamool government seeks inclusion in GWST talks between India and Bangladesh
  • India’s next election has a theme — southern discomfort
  • Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister in BJP's grand power show

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

18h | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

2d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

3d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

No Cash in ATMs: System Glitch or Something Deeper?

No Cash in ATMs: System Glitch or Something Deeper?

12h | TBS Today
Iran-Israel military power; who is ahead?

Iran-Israel military power; who is ahead?

14h | TBS World
Did the possibility of an Iran nuclear deal set back after the attack?

Did the possibility of an Iran nuclear deal set back after the attack?

16h | TBS World
IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami killed in Israeli strike

IRGC chief Major General Hossein Salami killed in Israeli strike

17h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net