Taking out a foot march on Sunday to canvass for BJP candidate Hasirani Rath, the mother of Adhikari’s slain close aide Chandranath Rath, he continued with his attack on his predecessor over her leg injury.
A day earlier, Adhikari claimed during a press conference that Banerjee had faked her leg injury during campaigning in Nandigram in 2021. He had held up a document, claiming it to be Banerjee’s medical report that shows “no evidence of a fracture”.
On the campaign trail on Sunday, he said, “Under the previous TMC government, the CID harassed BJP leaders entirely on falsehoods. Attempt to murder charges were framed against them even though official documents do not show any fracture.”
“Once the model code of conduct is lifted, I will take whatever steps required under the law. If you are genuinely victimised, you will receive legal protection. But if you make false allegations, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has explicit provisions for punishment,” he said, promising full legal redressal for “victimised” BJP workers.
Adhikari sought a bigger turnaround of voters in the October 6 bypoll and a higher margin of victory for the BJP candidate than his during the Assembly polls earlier this year.
The bypoll has been necessitated after Adhikari vacated Nandigram in favour of Bhabanipur, which he had also won against Mamata Banerjee.Adhikari also said the BJP had not received minority votes in the last three elections and hoped that the situation could change this time. “Let us see whether Muslims want Ram Rajya now. We do not force anyone to say Jai Shri Ram,” he said.
TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh, who is aligned with the Mamata Banerjee faction of the party, has questioned the timing of Adhikari’s allegation. “Why is he making the claim on the eve of the bypoll?”
He claimed that Banerjee remained the foremost political rival of Adhikari even though her camp has no candidate in the bypoll.
Mamata Banerjee has extended her TMC faction’s support to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan for the Nandigram bypoll after her nominee Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the contest following a meeting with CM Adhikari.
Pradhan has been leading an intense canvassing since hitting the campaign trail on Thursday after getting bail from the Calcutta High Court, as he tries hard to make up for the lost time. He was arrested on September 18, after Banerjee announced her support, in connection with six cases dating back to the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram.
He has been visiting almost every part of Nandigram, seeking support from voters.
Besides the BJP and the Congress, the Left, ISF and the Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress are also in the fray.
Bypoll in Nandigram and Rejinagar will be held on October 6, with the counting of votes slated for October 9.
