Suvendu Adhikari sought re-election from Nandigram with an emphatic display of party unity in Haldia on Monday with veteran Dilip Ghosh and hundreds of BJP workers, the carefully choreographed show of unity turning the otherwise routine filing of nomination into a high-voltage political message.
Ghosh walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Adhikari during the rally leading to the SDO office in Haldia, where the sitting Nandigram MLA formally submitted his nomination papers. The presence of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan further reinforced unity message.
The optics were unmistakable — a party often perceived to be grappling with internal friction projected instead a consolidated front.
Party insiders indicated that this was a calibrated attempt to blunt the Trinamool Congress’s strategy of leveraging perceived rifts within the BJP, particularly through its Nandigram candidate Pabitra Kar, a former BJP leader with local organisational links.
With Adhikari, the BJP's Haldia candidate Pradip Kumar Bijali and Mahishadal candidate Subhash Panja submitted their nominations.
BJP workers in Haldia turned euphoric seeing Dilip Ghosh with Adhikari. Ghosh interacted with many old-timers and known faces.
The backdrop to Monday’s show of strength lies in a long-simmering rivalry between Adhikari and Ghosh. Since joining the BJP in December 2020, months ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, and defeating chief minister Mamata Banerjee narrowly in Nandigram, Adhikari emerged as the principal face of the party in Bengal, overshadowing Ghosh.
The differences widened further around the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, especially after Ghosh’s defeat from Burdwan-Durgapur. Yet, Monday’s joint mobilisation suggested that the central leadership, backed by Union home minister Amit Shah and others, intervened to enforce a truce in the interest of electoral consolidation.
Beginning his day with a puja at a temple in Reyapara, Adhikari attended a Bijoy Sankalp meeting before leading the rally to Haldia. The mobilisation of grassroots workers and the visual of senior leaders sharing the same platform were aimed at reinforcing a “one team” doctrine within the BJP.
“The BJP is a regimented and disciplined political party. Both of us, Dilip Ghosh and I, are loyal to the party leadership and every order of the party is obeyed equally by me and him,” Adhikari said, framing the unity as organisational discipline rather than personal reconciliation.
In a symbolic gesture, Adhikari’s nomination was proposed by relatives of those martyred in the Nandigram land acquisition movement and representatives from the Scheduled Caste community, signalling a broader social outreach.
Positioning the 2026 contest as structurally different from 2021, Adhikari argued that electoral dynamics in Nandigram had shifted towards the BJP.
“Arithmetically, Nandigram was a tougher seat in 2021. Mamata Banerjee misled the 64,000 Muslim voters of Nandigram with so-called NRC fears. But Muslims have eventually realised the truth. They have also realised the protection of good governance by Narendra Modi,” he said.
“At the same time, Hindus are now largely a united lot. So Nandigram has become an easier seat for the BJP,” he added, expressing confidence of a decisive victory for him.
Trinamool Congress candidate Pabitra Kar dismissed Adhikari's confidence as misplaced.
“Some people are underestimating me as a weak candidate. But I swear to defeat Suvendu Adhikari by at least 30,000 votes. This claim is based on pure arithmetic,” Kar said.
Dilip Ghosh said that not just in Nandigram, the BJP would also win the Haldia seat too where former BJP MLA Tapasi Mandal became a Trinamool candidate quitting the saffron camp.
Beyond Nandigram, Adhikari indicated his intent to challenge Mamata in Bhabanipur as part of what he described as a larger “Save Bengal” mission.
“After the SIR exercise, Bhabanipur has also become an easier seat (for the BJP). So far, Mamata Banerjee won from Bhabanipur depending on fake and Bangladeshi voters. But after the SIR exercise, this would no longer be possible for her,” Adhikari claimed.