Congress candidate for Nandigram bye-poll arrested hours after Mamata extends support

The Congress candidate for the Nandigram Assembly bye-elections in West Bengal was arrested on Friday in a 2007 murder case, said party MP KC Venugopal.

This came hours after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that her faction of the Trinamool Congress will support Milan Pradhan in the bye-elections scheduled for October 6.

Minutes before this, the group’s candidate, Sanchita Pradhan, had withdrawn her nomination. This came soon after photographs of her meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had been shared online.

Venugopal said in a social media post that Milan Pradhan’s arrest showed “democracy is on ventilator in BJP’s West Bengal”.

“This is the BJP’s latest effort to ensure ‘Opposition-Mukt Bharat’, successfully converting our great constitutional democracy into a banana republic,” said the MP.

He added that “these petty intimidation tactics by their cheap copycats are not going to scare” the Congress.

“We will stand tall against this misuse of power, and we will ensure the BJP’s defeat,” he said.

Democracy is on ventilator in BJP’s West Bengal. This is BJP’s latest effort to ensure “Opposition-Mukt Bharat”, successfully converting our great Constitutional democracy into a Banana Republic.

Using a dormant 19-year old case from 2007 to arrest our candidate - minutes after… https://t.co/khRTAzRYZ6— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp)...

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