Haldia: With Dilip Ghosh by his side, Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari filed his nomination from Nandigram on Monday, in an apparent display of unity between the old guard and the new as the party heads into the 2026 assembly elections.Across Bengal, 79 nominations were submitted on Monday, the first day of filing poll papers. Adhikari’s rise in BJP after his 2021 Nandigram win coincided with Ghosh — the party’s former state president — losing his clout. Ghosh was asked to vacate his Midnapore Lok Sabha seat in 2024 and fight from Burdwan-Durgapur, where he lost.With Ghosh being asked to head back to Kharagpur to fight the 2026 poll battle, a place where he staged a major upset in 2016 — defeating 10-time MLA Gyan Singh Sohanpal — the Samik Bhattacharya-led Bengal BJP leadership gave out an unmistakable signal to bridge the old-and-new divide.“The demand for BJP among voters is far greater this time,” Adhikari said. “BJP remains committed to bringing a clean, corruption-free, development-oriented and ethical govt in Bengal,” he added. Adhikari asserted that he would win from both Nandigram and Bhowanipore constituencies.Bengal BJP seniors said the visual of Ghosh standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Adhikari was a counter to the narrative of internal friction in the party and a display of collective strength. It followed party chief Nitin Nabin’s directions to the Bengal brass to project a “one team philosophy”. “Individual identities are secondary in the party’s broader vision,” a BJP neta said, adding that party seniors in Delhi had earlier suggested that a member of a martyr’s family should propose Adhikari’s nomination.Sources said Nabin has asked Bengal BJP functionaries to project the party as disciplined and a viable alternative.Unlike 2021, this time the Nandigram battle will be between Adhikari and Pabitra Kar of Trinamool. Kar is a former BJP panchayat head and was once considered one of Adhikar’s most trusted lieutenants in Nandigram.He defected to Trinamool hours before his candidacy was finalised. Kar’s wife, also a prominent saffron party functionary, too joined Trinamool, signalling a significant fracture in BJP’s local organisational structure.
