Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari will file his nomination papers from the Nandigram Assembly seat on March 12, news agency ANI reported. Adhikari, a former minister in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet, is the saffron party's candidate in the Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur district, from where the Chief Minister will also contest the assembly elections.
Nandigram is a stronghold of Adhikari, who was elected on a Trinamool ticket from the high profile seat in 2016 before he became a Minister in the Banerjee-led state Cabinet. Mamata will file her nomination from the seat on March 10.
Adhikari had joined the saffron brigade in December last year. The rebel Trinamool leader had claimed earlier that he will defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes.
Earlier on Saturday, Adhikari asserted he is "200 per cent" sure of handsomely defeating the TMC supremo, who is an "outsider" in Nandigram seat.
READ MORE: Mamata Banerjee will face a big defeat in Nandigram: Suvendu Adhikari | Exclusive
"Why have you deserted your Bhowanipore constituency? Why have you run away? Is it because the BJP had won in the booth at Mitra Institution in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? You cannot even win in your own locality," Adhikari said at a rally in Behala area of Kolkata.
Exuding confidence of trouncing Banerjee in Nandigram, Adhikari said, "I had defeated Lakshman Seth in Nandigram, I will defeat the honourable (Banerjee) this time. She is an outsider in Nandigram whereas I am a 'bhumiputra' (son of the soil) of the area."
The 294-member West Bengal Assembly will go to the polls in eight phases between March 27 and April 29. The counting will take place on May 2.
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