‘Not leaving’: CM gives up Nandigram assembly seat

Kolkata: Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari on Friday formally resigned from the Nandigram assembly seat and chose to retain Bhowanipore, while delivering an emotional message to reassure his support base in his East Midnapore bastion."My relationship with Nandigram is not tied to any elected post. This relationship runs much deeper, and it will remain until my last breath," he said after submitting his resignation to speaker Rathindra Bose.Adhikari, who has won thrice from Nandigram since 2016, was victorious in both Nandigram and Bhowanipore in the 2026 polls. While he defeated TMC candidate Pabitra Kar by 9,665 votes in Nandigram, a seat symbolically linked to his emergence since the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement, in Bhowanipore, he scored a bigger upset by defeating former CM Mamata Banerjee by 15,105 votes.Targeting Banerjee, Adhikari alleged several Nandigram projects were stalled out of "vindictiveness". He cited a Rs 4,000-crore Asian Development Bank-funded drinking water project, claiming pipeline work resumed on Friday after years of delay. Recalling annual ‘Martyrs' Day' commemorations at Bhangabera, Sonachura and Gokulnagar, Adhikari said he would continue attending them."No, I am not leaving. I will be present in festivals and development work and you will continue to receive every kind of service. Your friend Suvendu will remain with you," Adhikari said.