Suvendu Adhikari to retain Bhabanipur seat
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Wednesday that he will retain his Bhabanipur Assembly seat and resign from Nandigram. This comes days after he took the oath as the 9th Chief Minister of Bengal.
He won both the Bhabanipur and Nandigram seats in the recently-concluded assembly polls and took oath in the state Assembly as an MLA from Bhabanipur on Wednesday.
Adhikari defeated TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in her Bhabanipur bastion in the recently concluded Assembly polls by a margin of 15,105 in a teeterboard battle while defending his own keep of Nandigram by 9,665 over his nearest rival, Pabitra Kar of the Trinamool Congress.
Assurance to Nandigram voters
"Someone else will be elected as MLA from Nandigram (in a bypoll). But I will not let the people there feel my absence. I will fulfil all development promises I made to the people of Nandigram alongside the rest of the state," Adhikari told reporters at the Assembly premises, PTI reported.
Adhikari referred to the period between 2009 and 2016 when Phiroja Bibi represented Nandigram as a TMC MLA, recalling that he had extended full support to her despite not holding the seat at the time. "I had provided all support to Phiroja Bibi, the mother of a martyr in the 2008 Nandigram police firing, although I wasn't officially the MLA from that seat. I will play a similar role this time as well," Adhikari added.
CM's first day in the Assembly
On his first day in the Assembly as the Chief Minister, Adhikari offered floral tributes to the statue of BR Ambedkar and was accorded a guard of honour on the premises. He knelt at the entrance of the House and touched his forehead to the ground before entering the Assembly. As per officials, the Chief Minister is scheduled to hold a review meeting with all departmental secretaries at the state secretariat Nabanna at 2 pm.
Suvendu's 'eventful' first day as Bengal CM
Earlier on May 11, Adhikari described his first day in office at Nabanna as "eventful", asserting that his government had begun turning electoral promises into action through a series of key decisions taken at the inaugural cabinet meeting.
The Chief Minister said the state would finally implement the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, allowing residents to avail of its benefits. He also announced the immediate transfer of land for border fencing work to the BSF, saying the process would be completed within 45 days.
