West Bengal: Mamata's Rejinagar bypoll candidate announces withdrawal from contest, retracts later

Kolkata: In a dramatic turn of events, Mamata Banerjee's party's Rejinagar by-election candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury on Saturday announced his withdrawal from the contest, only to retract his statement within a few hours, and assert he would be in the October 6 poll battle as per the wishes of the supremo.

The development came a day after Banerjee's party's Nandigram by-election nominee Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her candidature following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.

Chowdhury, a former TMC MLA, told reporters in his Murshidabad home earlier in the day, "It is becoming difficult for me to motivate grassroots workers who have been facing regular harassment. Also, it is an onerous task to familiarise the electorate with the new 'footballer' symbol in such a short time. In this given situation, last night I informed Mamata di about my decision (not to contest)... Let's see," he said.


However, hours later, Chowdhury, in another hurriedly convened press meet, said, "I will be contesting the bypoll. I have been assured of security by the police after the supremo (Banerjee) intervened... I had a conversation with our party chief, who directed me not to quit the poll fray. I have met officers of the Beldanga police station and they have also assured me and my cadre of security during campaigning."

"I am retracting from my earlier decision. I will see to it that none of our workers faces torture. Even if I have 10 activists, I will win," he added.

The Election Commission has allotted the 'footballer' symbol to the Mamata faction of the Trinamool Congress and assigned it the name 'Mamata All India Trinamool Congress' amid a bitter feud with the rebel grouping over the party's name and 'flowers-and-grass' symbol. The rival faction led by Arup Roy has been awarded the name 'Democratic Trinamool Congress' and the symbol of 'envelope'.

Mamata's party's Nandigram candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey, who lost her job due to a teacher recruitment scam, on Friday met Adhikari at the state secretariat Nabanna along with her husband Satyajit before withdrawing her nomination, a day ahead of the deadline. The reasons for her decision were not immediately clear.

Faced with a sudden vacancy, Banerjee announced support for Congress's Nandigram candidate Milan Pradhan, describing the Congress as a "sister party", and saying that the move was intended to strengthen the INDIA bloc ahead of October 6 bypolls.

However, hours later, Pradhan was arrested in connection with criminal cases lodged against him during the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

Banerjee and her camp accused the BJP government of "acting in an authoritarian manner to crush dissent and win the bypoll by a huge margin".

Reacting to the allegation, BJP leader and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar said such charges were expected to be leveled by a "party centred on one person, whose activists had carried out attacks on the then opposition BJP after the 2021 assembly polls".