Congress's Nandigram candidate arrested hours after Mamata pledges support
Congress candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested by West Bengal Police on Friday in connection with a case stemming from the 2007 anti-land acquisition protests, hours after former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction would support him in the Nandigram bypoll.
The West Bengal Congress said Pradhan, its candidate for the October 6 election, was arrested in the case linked to the 2007 protests.
The 2007 protests were against a proposed land acquisition in Nandigram, which left 14 villagers dead and altered the state’s political landscape.
The arrest came shortly after Banerjee said her camp would not field another candidate from Nandigram following the withdrawal of Sanchita Pradhan De, the nominee of the Mamata-led Trinamool faction.
Banerjee announced her support for Pradhan as a show of solidarity with the INDIA alliance in its fight against the BJP.
“We are ready to fight it out. I want the BJP to go from India. Our full solidarity is with the INDIA alliance,” Banerjee said at a press conference.
She also referred to her discussions with other INDIA bloc leaders, saying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had called her on Thursday and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had posted a message of support.
Sanchita Pradhan De withdrew her candidature on Friday, less than a month before the Nandigram bypoll.
Her withdrawal followed a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the state secretariat in Nabanna. Sources initially described it as a courtesy meeting, but it drew attention given Adhikari’s political rivalry with Banerjee and his association with Nandigram.
Banerjee subsequently said her faction would not replace De and would instead support the Congress candidate.
The arrest of Pradhan hours later added another turn to the contest, which has been marked by the split in the Trinamool Congress and a dispute over the party’s name and symbol.TMC FACTIONS GET NEW NAMES, SYMBOLS
The Election Commission has frozen the Trinamool Congress name and its traditional “flowers and grass” symbol amid competing claims from its rival factions.
For the upcoming bypolls, Banerjee’s faction will contest as the “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” with a football player as its symbol.
The rival faction has been allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and an envelope as its symbol.
The arrangement is temporary and will apply to the upcoming bypolls while the Election Commission considers the rival claims over the party’s name and symbol.
The poll body froze the “All India Trinamool Congress” name and the “flowers and grass” symbol on Thursday, preventing either faction from using the identity associated with the party since its formation in 1998.MAMATA ATTACKS ELECTION COMMISSION
Banerjee called the Election Commission’s decision a “black day” in India’s democratic history and alleged that it was driven by “political bias and vendetta”.
She claimed that the decision was intended to satisfy the “ego” of a political party.
Banerjee also alleged that her faction’s accounts had been frozen and its workers were being targeted. She accused the police of acting as an “arm” of the ruling BJP and pressuring her supporters to switch sides.
She claimed that around 14,000 party workers were in jail and that she was under house arrest and unable to meet them.
Indicating that her faction would challenge the Election Commission’s arrangement, Banerjee said, “We will never bow down our head and we will bounce back.”
“I cannot leave All India Trinamool Congress until I leave this world,” she added.HOW THE TMC SPLIT UNFOLDED
The dispute began within the Trinamool legislature party before spreading to its parliamentary ranks and reaching the Election Commission.
In June, 58 rebel MLAs backed expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition instead of the Mamata camp’s nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. Ritabrata was subsequently recognised by the Assembly Speaker.
Five days later, 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar joined the NCPI and wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, backing the BJP-led NDA as a separate bloc.
Another group of legislators supported a parallel leadership structure, with senior MLA Arup Roy named its chairperson.
Both factions later approached the Election Commission, staking claim to the Trinamool Congress name and its election symbol. The dispute now forms the backdrop to the Nandigram bypoll, where the Congress candidate backed by Banerjee has been arrested weeks before voting.- EndsPublished By: Shipra ParasharPublished On: Sep 18, 2026 18:45 IST
