Mamata Banerjee backs Congress in Nandigram bypoll, her candidate opts out

Former CM Mamata Banerjee during a press conference at Kalighat. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

“First our bank account was frozen. Now they have frozen my party’s symbol and name. Earlier, they did this with Uddhav Thackeray and now us. It is a black day for democracy. What happened is illegal and against the Constitution. But we will fight it out. Rahul Gandhi called me last night. Arvind Kejriwal stood with us along with many other leaders. Our INDIA alliance stands together. We will fight together against the BJP,” she said.

The Banerjee-led faction, which is struggling to recover from the Bengal poll drubbing and the mutinies that followed, has now lost its party’s name and symbol. The Election Commission has frozen the All India Trinamool Congress name and symbol of two flowers and a grass after recognising the split in the party. The Banerjee-led faction has been alloted the alternative name, ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’, and the alternative symbol: a ‘football player’. The rebel camp, led by Arup Roy, got the name Democratic Trinamool Congress, and the symbol of an ‘envelope’.

Asked why her candidate withdrew nominations from Nandigram, Banerjee said, “She was threatened. Earlier she sent us a message that she wanted to contest and we nominated her. But we had decided to support Congress earlier.”

To a question on whether she had talks with the Congress leadership before extending her support to its candidate, Banerjee said, “We unilaterally decided to support the Congress candidate. Their candidate is good. This is for better relations between INDIA partners. We have started this from Bengal.” The Congress candidate in Nandigram is Milan Pradhan.

Interestingly, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the Banerjee-camp candidate who has now backtracked, was seen meeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday, a day before she withdrew her nomination.

Speaking on her party’s new name and symbol, Mamata Banerjee said, “This is an interim decision. We had responded because by-elections are on. We have the documents and proofs. We are confident of retaining the party’s name and symbol. I am the founding chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress. While our workers cried last night, their leaders celebrated. This shows who the real Trinamool Congress is. They are BJP’s A team. Some leaders have gathered under the banner of BJP for money and to avoid going to jail.”

Targeting the BJP, she said, “They (BJP) are not allowing us to hold rallies. Over 14000 of our workers have been arrested by police who are working on BJP’s behalf in Bengal. I am virtually under house arrest. But we will fight against all this. We will not surrender and we will bounce back,” said Banerjee.