Buoyed by the BJP’s emphatic win in the Falta Assembly repoll, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday set a similar victory target for his party in a bypoll to the Nandigram seat he resigned from as MLA after choosing to retain the Bhabanipur constituency.
He also unveiled the party’s organisational blueprint for the bypoll, assigning his younger brother and Kanthi MP Soumendu Adhikari a key role in the administrative work.
Addressing a gathering at Nandigram College ground, Adhikari said, “I have assigned special responsibility to Kanthi MP and my brother Soumendu in the field of panchayat, administration, and public work. He will be assisted by five MLAs – Arupkumar Das, Shantanu Pramanik, Chandrashekhar Mandal, Nirmal Khadra, Tapan Maiti.”
In his first visit to Nandigram as chief minister, where he served as a three-term MLA and called home, Adhikari reassured his supporters that despite vacating the seat, he remained firmly rooted in his political home turf.
He also asked his supporters if they could replicate in Nandigram a victory margin similar to Falta, where the BJP won by more than one lakh votes.
“Can you give us a Falta-like margin in Nandigram too?” he asked, triggering loud cheers from his supporters.
He also referred to allegations of post-poll violence and attacks on BJP workers after the 2021 elections, saying party workers should not take the law into their own hands despite grievances.
“Are you worried about five years of false cases? I will do whatever I can legally. You (TMC) have implicated 4,000 of my workers in false cases. Sab ka saath sab ka vikas hoga par sab ka hisab bhi hoga (there will be development for everyone but there will also be accountability),” he said.
“Don’t take the law into your hands. You may feel angry, but the BJP does not function like that. I remember everything. Nothing has been forgotten. Everything will be accounted for. Their real place is jail. I won’t spare even one,” he said.
Hitting out at former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari said, “The former CM who lost twice did not give death certificates to seven sahid families and deprived them of government compensation just because they stood by my side.”
He further said, “I assure you that I will be there for you to fulfill your dreams. All the development work that the former CM stopped, like the completion of rail projects, will be resumed. I had fought from Nandigram where she tried to defeat me. But you all have sent her back. This time the party asked me if I would like to defeat her on her home turf. I agreed and defeated her by over 15,000 votes.”
Calling Nandigram his “home” and the cradle of his political rise, the chief minister said the bond forged through years of struggle since 2003 would continue unchanged despite his shift to Bhabanipur.
“Do not get worried. Your Suvendu was and always will be by your side. Right now there is a huge responsibility, it is a huge state. After 34 years of Left rule and 15 years of TMC rule, the state is in a bad condition. With the assistance of Modiji we have to develop the state again in a new way. We have already begun work in these two weeks, he said.
Speaking about the state’s development, Adhikari said, “The educated youth need jobs, the state needs industries, women need safety, there is a need for clean water, good roads and bridges. People want police to work and outsiders to leave the country. People want secured borders, Ram Navami and Durga Puja to be celebrated in peace. People don’t want to seek court’s permission to practice one’s religion. People want corruption to end.”
“We will fulfill all our promises. We have to open doors to jobs, bring investment. All central schemes will be provided. Government hospitals have to provide treatment. The Centre is helping us and we will in some time build a sonar Bangla,” he added.
He also said that he has asked panchayat minister Dilip Ghosh to restart the 100-day work in the state.