Kolkata, Oct 30 West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday dared TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee to contest from his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat in the 2029 polls and vowed to defeat him, prompting the three-time parliamentarian to assert that he was ready for another electoral battle from the constituency provided his party nominated him again.
Adhikari accused Banerjee of having turned South 24 Parganas district into his personal fiefdom, while the TMC leader questioned whether the CM’s prediction of his defeat was based on “electoral calculations or the EC’s influence”.
Addressing a massive rally in Baruipur, Adhikari challenged Banerjee to face him in Diamond Harbour in the next Lok Sabha elections, claiming he would ensure that the sitting MP loses by “at least one vote more than his 2024 winning margin”.
“If you contest an election from Diamond Harbour again, I will defeat you. I will ensure that you lose by at least one vote more than the number you bagged (in 2024). You did not allow free and fair elections in West Bengal then. If you have courage, contest in 2029… We will make sure you lose your deposits,” Adhikari said.
Taking a swipe at Banerjee’s alleged absence from his constituency, the chief minister said the MP had won by a margin of around seven lakh votes but had become “difficult to find” after the elections.
“Where has he been for the last six months?” he said.
Adhikari also took a personal dig at Banerjee, calling him “echore paka”, a Bengali expression used to mock someone who is precocious or acts beyond his years.
The CM alleged that democratic institutions in South 24 Parganas had been systematically weakened under Banerjee’s influence and that free and fair panchayat elections had not been allowed in the district.
“The nephew used to behave like a ‘zamindar’ (landlord) of South 24 Parganas and did not allow panchayat elections to take place,” he alleged, accusing the TMC MP of exercising control over the district’s political and administrative machinery.
Abhishek Banerjee is the nephew of former CM Mamata Banerjee.
Adhikari also claimed that all civic bodies in the state would eventually turn saffron, projecting the BJP’s electoral victory in the upcoming municipal polls as inevitable.
Banerjee, however, was quick to turn the challenge around, saying he would contest again from Diamond Harbour if the party leadership gave him the opportunity.
Responding to Adhikari’s claim that he would be defeated by a margin exceeding his previous winning lead, Banerjee said, “Is he an astrologer?”
Questioning the basis of the chief minister’s confidence, the TMC national general secretary invoked Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that the BJP was relying on the EC rather than the electorate.
“Have they already worked out the calculations and submitted it to the Election Commission?” he asked.
Banerjee said the electorate would ultimately decide whether the “BJP’s institutional power or the people’s democratic mandate” would prevail.
“Your time to leave has almost come… Just a few more months. Let us see whether the power of your Election Commission and the state machinery is greater than that of the ordinary people in a democracy,” he said.
Adhikari was once among the TMC’s most influential grassroots organisers and a trusted lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee, particularly during the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007 that helped establish the party’s political credentials ahead of its 2011 victory.
However, the rise of Abhishek Banerjee within the TMC, particularly between 2014 and 2019, altered the party’s internal power structure. As Mamata Banerjee’s nephew consolidated his position and emerged as the party’s second-most influential leader, Adhikari’s organisational prominence and responsibilities were perceived to have diminished.
Adhikari eventually quit the TMC and joined the BJP in December 2020, becoming one of its principal faces in West Bengal’s battle against his former party. He later defeated Mamata Banerjee twice, in the 2021 and 2026 assembly polls in Nandigram and Bhabanipur assembly seats, respectively.
After the BJP stormed to power in West Bengal in the 2026 assembly elections, Adhikari became the chief minister.
The two leaders also traded barbs over the arrest of Abhishek Banerjee’s aide Sumit Roy, with Adhikari alleging that Roy had disclosed information against the TMC MP during police interrogation.
Adhikari dismissed Banerjee’s allegations that Roy had been kept in custody for more than two months in a fabricated case and that police officers were being offered rewards for targeting him.
“He must be suffering from sodium-potassium imbalance. Let him go to New York for treatment; we will give the necessary NOC,” Adhikari said, taking a dig at Banerjee’s health.
(PTI News)
