Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today won a white-knuckled fight in Bengal's Nandigram, beating the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, her former right-hand man.
The West Bengal Chief Minister trailed Suvendu Adhikari in the early rounds of counting, which dimmed her party's euphoria at a spectacular election victory in Bengal. But finally, she scraped past him and managed a 1,200-vote lead to clinch a victory.
Nandigram is the town that catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power for the first time in 2011 and winning here serves as a big message to aides - mainly Mr. Adhikari -- who ditched her this time to cross over to the BJP.
In 2011, Suvendu Adhikari was by Mamata Banerjee's side as she campaigned for farmers' land rights. He became an MLA in the constituency and for years, the Adhikari family had a firm grip over Nandigram. But in this election, he was weaponized by the BJP against the Chief Minister, who was pitched as an "outsider" in Nandigram.DailyBangladesh/SA Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
