Mamata Banerjee deprived Nandigram of development after being defeated in 2021, claims Adhikari

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday accused his predecessor Mamata Banerjee, of depriving the people of Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district of development for the last five years from 2021 to 2026, because of her alleged anguish at being defeated from there in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

To recall, in the 2021 state Assembly polls, Banerjee got defeated by Adhikari by a margin of little less than 2,000 votes.

Later, she got elected in the same year in a bypoll at Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata and retained her chair as the Chief Minister for the third-consecutive term.

“The people of Nandigram had been deprived of development activities during the last five years of the previous Trinamool Congress regime. Mamata Banerjee deliberately deprived Nandigram out of her anguish of getting defeated from there in 2021. The demand for a railway station at Nandigram was long-standing. Only six acres of land were required for that. But the previous state government led by Mamata Banerjee did not even allot that. But after I became the Chief Minister, I have already allotted 3.5 acres of land for that purpose and transferred that land to the Indian Railways. The remaining will be allotted soon and the work of the new station at Nandigram will be completed by March next year. I will be the first one to get into a train from that station,” Adhikari said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also said that family members of nine martyrs during the Left Front regime were denied state government jobs by the previous Trinamool Congress regime, again because of Mamata Banerjee’s anguish over her 2021 defeat.

“But one member from each of nine martyrs’ families had been offered state government jobs, immediately after the new BJP-ruled government took charge after the Assembly polls this year,” said CM Adhikari.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also expressed confidence that the people of Nandigram, which is heading for a bypoll soon, will ensure a landslide victory of the BJP candidate in that bye-election.

In the recently-concluded West Bengal Assembly polls earlier this year, Adhikari got elected from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur Assembly constituencies. At Bhabanipur he defeated Mamata Banerjee for the second time after 2021.

After that he retained the Bhabanipur constituency which had necessitated a bypoll in Nandigram.

IANS