3 min readKolkataMar 20, 2026 02:02 PM IST
First published on: Mar 20, 2026 at 02:02 PM IST
Once a close aide of Suvendu Adhikari, Pabitra Kar, who had spearheaded the “outsider” campaign against Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee during the 2021 Assembly elections in Nandigram, is now the TMC’s choice to take on the BJP leader in the constituency having recast him as a “son of the soil”.
Nandigram holds both symbolic and political significance for the TMC, whose rise to power was fuelled by the anti-land acquisition agitation that began there in 2007. In 2021, Adhikari, who had joined the BJP months ahead of the Assembly elections, defeated Banerjee by a narrow margin of 1,956 votes. While the TMC secured a sweeping victory across the state with 215 seats and a 48% vote share, Banerjee’s loss in Nandigram stood out amid the success.
Adhikari and Banerjee, once close associates, parted ways in 2020 after the former accused the TMC leadership of corruption and electoral malpractice. His exit triggered a wave of defections from the party in Nandigram.
Kar’s return to the TMC earlier this week, and his swift nomination as a candidate against his former mentor hours after his return, underlines the ruling party’s attempt to counter the BJP’s organisational strength with insider knowledge. Nandigram remains a high-stakes battleground and by fielding Kar, the TMC is looking to adopt the strategy of “fighting fire with fire”.
According to a senior TMC leader, the party struggled to find a candidate willing to challenge Adhikari in his bastion. “We needed someone with deep local roots and acceptability across voters. Pabitra Kar fits that requirement,” the leader said.
“He joined the BJP only in 2020 and was never close to Adhikari. He is known to be close to Dilip Ghosh. He was later made the pradhan of Boyal-1 gram panchayat in Nandigram-2 block,” said a senior TMC leader.
The TMC is banking on Kar’s familiarity with booth-level management. He had played a role in the BJP’s 2021 campaign. “He understands the BJP’s electoral machinery and knows what drives voter turnout in the region,” the TMC leader said.
According to Kar’s close associates, he forayed into politics through the anti-land acquisition movement. At the time, he was about 26 years old. “After becoming the panchayat of Boyal-1, his influence in the area increased and almost all votes in the village went in the BJP’s favour. Now, the TMC is banking on these votes returning. Kar was also one of the heads of the vote machinery in Nandigram-2 block while in Nandigram-1, the vote manager was Meghnath Pal,” said a local.
The BJP, however, dismissed the challenge with a senior party leader saying that Adhikari continues to retain the support of key organisers in Nandigram. “Leaders like Pralay Pal and Meghnath Pal remain with him. Kar is not a significant factor,” the leader said.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya too expressed confidence in Adhikari’s prospects, stating that he would win both Nandigram and Bhabanipur by a “massive margin”.
With Kar now positioned as the TMC’s candidate, the contest in Nandigram is set to once again draw attention as a high-profile political battle between former allies turned rivals.