'I Will Defeat Mamata By 50,000 Votes Or Quit Politics': Suvendu Adhikari Takes Up Nandigram Challenge

Suvendu Adhikari has decided to take on Mamata Banerjee’s declaration of contesting the West Bengal assembly polls from Nandigram, Times of India reports.

Addressing a BJP meeting in south Kolkata, Adhikari announced that he will quit politics if he could not defeat Banerjee by at least 50,000 votes in the upcoming elections. The West Bengal Chief Minister revealed that she will fight the polls from Nandigram and possibly even Bhabanipur, which is the constituency she represents currently.

“I came to hear that the Trinamool supremo will be contesting from Nandigram. My party is not a private limited company like Trinamool, in which candidates are announced from a public gathering. Let BJP give the ticket to me from Nandigram or to anyone else. Take it from me, I will defeat the Trinamool supremo by half a lakh votes or I will quit politics,” Adhikari was quoted as saying in the roadshow.

Adhikari was elected to the West Bengal assembly through Nanigram in 2016. He is believed to have a significant clout in the Medinapore region and that can decisively turn the polls in BJP’s favor. His exit was seen as a major jolt to the TMC considering that he was believed to be the party’s tallest mass leader after the Chief Minister.

Banerjee proclaimed that Nandigram is her lucky place and said that she was undeterred by her party members switching to the BJP. “As long as I am alive, I won't allow them to sell out my state to the BJP,” she said.