Kolkata: Four-and-a-half months after being voted out of power by the BJP, Trinamool Congress founder Mamata Banerjee faced further humiliation that left her faction of the divided party with a new name and symbol for the upcoming bypolls in West Bengal.
If that wasn’t enough, the Mamata group’s candidate to contest the Nandigram byelection withdrew her nomination on Friday.
Sanchita Dey Pradhan, a teacher in Nandigram who had lost her job following the cancellation of appointments of 26,000 teachers in connection with the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam in Bengal, was announced as Mamata faction’s candidate five days ago.
In a dramatic twist, Sanchita reportedly met West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari hours before the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced a freeze on the All India Trinamool Congress name and symbol. And on Friday came the announcement of Sanchita’s withdrawal from byelection, just as Mamata began a press conference.
The three-time former chief minister called it a “black day for democracy”, alleging that everything was being done to satisfy a party’s ego.
Mamata slammed the Election Commission for not allotting the party’s original name and symbol to her, squarely blaming the BJP.
“How can the EC freeze my party’s symbol that has been with us for 28 years?” she asked.
“BJP is trying to destroy opposition parties. It first broke Uddhav Thackeray’s party, then NCP in Maharashtra,” she said. “TMC rebels are the A-team of BJP. Those elected on our symbol are now challenging it.”
Following the withdrawal of her party – renamed Mamata All India Trinamool Congress with its symbol being a football player – candidate, the former CM said her party will support the Congress candidate in Nandigram.
“We will support Congress in the Nandigram bypoll to strengthen the INDIA bloc,” she said, adding that she had received calls of solidarity from Opposition leaders. “Rahul Gandhi rang me up yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal also expressed solidarity; we will all fight together against BJP,” Mamata said.
In her characteristic style, Mamata asserted she won’t back down despite the setback.
“We are neither going to bow our heads, nor will we surrender; we will fight and bounce back.”
