KOLKATA: In another dramatic turn in the TMC's internal battle, Mamata Banerjee camp's Nandigram bypoll candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination on Friday, hours after meeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari here.
Stunned by the turn of events, Banerjee extended support to the Congress candidate in Nandigram despite the grand old party not appearing keen on seeking her faction's backing.
Bengal Congress leaders maintained that they were "ready and willing to fight on their own".
Accompanied by her husband Satyajit, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, a teacher, met Adhikari at the state secretariat Nabanna, and subsequently withdrew her nomination a day before the deadline.
The development came hours after the Election Commission allotted the Mamata Banerjee-led faction the name "Mamata All India Trinamool Congress" and the "Football Player" symbol for the October 6 bypolls.
The Arup Roy-led rebel faction was allotted the name "Democratic Trinamool Congress" and the "Envelope" symbol.
The poll panel had earlier frozen the use of the All India Trinamool Congress name and its traditional 'Flowers and Grass' symbol by both rival factions for the bypolls amid the dispute over the party's identity.
Pradhan Dey's withdrawal now leaves the Mamata faction without a candidate in Nandigram, dramatically altering the contest in a constituency that has remained one of the most politically watched seats in Bengal.
The reasons for Pradhan Dey's withdrawal were not immediately clear.
The development brought back memories of May this year, when the TMC's Falta candidate Jahangir Khan withdrew from the May 21 assembly repoll, weeks after the party suffered electoral setbacks in the state. Though Khan's name remained on the EVM as the withdrawal deadline had passed, the episode acquired political significance as the BJP went on to win the seat by a record margin.
Banerjee announced that her faction would support Congress candidate Milan Pradhan in Nandigram, describing the Congress as a "sister party" and saying the move was aimed at strengthening the INDIA bloc.
"Let the message begin from Bengal," Banerjee said at a press conference at her Kalighat residence, adding that her faction had "earlier decided to support Congress in Nandigram", and describing the move as the beginning of a "future alliance".
The rebel faction, however, hit out at the announcement, accusing Banerjee of turning to the Congress after years of political rivalry with the party.
Banerjee has used the Congress over the years as a political ladder, rebel TMC camp leader Akruzzaman Ansari alleged.
"She was in the Congress, betrayed it, formed her own party and then forged an alliance with the BJP. Again, she aligned with the Congress and ditched it. She also allied with Congress in 2011 to come to power by defeating the Left. Since then, TMC has only destroyed Congress in Bengal," Ansari said.
Now when she is "in trouble after losing people's vote, she has bowed to Congress' feet," the rebel TMC leader said.
Nandigram has acquired heightened political significance for Banerjee since the 2021 Assembly election, when she contested from the constituency against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Adhikari had then defeated her by a narrow margin before subsequently becoming the leader of the opposition.
The latest development has added another twist to the Mamata-Adhikari rivalry, with Banerjee's faction now out of the electoral contest in Nandigram and backing the Congress candidate instead.
The withdrawal deadline is September 19. Polling for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls is scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9.
The immediate fallout of Pradhan Dey's withdrawal is that the Mamata faction, despite receiving a new party name and symbol from the EC, will not have a candidate of its own in one of Bengal's most politically significant constituencies.