Summary of this article
Suvendu Adhikari will retain the Bhabanipur Assembly seat and vacate Nandigram.
A bypoll will be held in Nandigram after Adhikari’s resignation from the seat.
Adhikari said he would continue to support development work in Nandigram.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said he would retain the Bhabanipur Assembly seat and vacate Nandigram after winning both constituencies in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, according to PTI.
Adhikari took oath in the state Assembly on Wednesday as the MLA from Bhabanipur. A bypoll will now be held in Nandigram after his decision to give up the seat, PTI reported.
“Someone else will be elected as MLA from Nandigram (in a bypoll). But I will not let the people there feel my absence.
“I will fulfil all development promises I made to the people of Nandigram alongside the rest of the state,” Adhikari told reporters at the Assembly premises.
Referring to the 2009-2016 tenure of Phiroja Bibi as a TMC MLA from Nandigram when he was a senior leader in Mamata Banerjee’s party, Adhikari said he had extended support to her despite not being the constituency’s MLA, reported PTI.
“I had provided all support to Phiroja Bibi, the mother of a martyr in the 2008 Nandigram police firing, although I wasn't officially the MLA from that seat. I will play a similar role this time as well,” he said.
In the Assembly elections, Adhikari defeated TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur by 15,105 votes in a closely fought contest. He also retained Nandigram by defeating Trinamool Congress candidate Pabitra Kar by 9,665 votes, according to PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
