Chief minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has cancelled her scheduled visit to Nandigram in East Midnapore on January 7 after a senior district leader tested positive for Covid19 and was rushed to a hospital in Calcutta on Monday.

“Didi will not visit Nandigram on January 7,” Trinamul leader Seikh Sufian and deputy chief of the East Midnapore zilla parishad said.

“Our Ramnagar MLA Akhil Giri has tested positive for coronavirus and hence, the programme, which would have led to a large gathering, has been cancelled,” Sufian said and added that Mamata would visit Nandigram as soon as Giri recovered from the illness.

Although Mamata’s rally will not be held, a meeting of Trinamul workers will be organised. The party’s state president Subrata Bakshi will attend the meeting.

Trinamul observes Saheed Divas or Martyrs’ Day on January 7 in Nandigram every year in memory of the three villagers killed in a shootout during the antiland acquisition agitation on the same date in 2007.

The change in Mamata’s plan has dashed the hopes of the family members of the martyrs who had hoped to meet the chief minister on January 7.

Pabitra Maiti, 50, a resident of Sonachura and father of Biswajit Maiti, one of those killed on January 7, 2007, said though Mamata had visited Nandigram several times in the past 13 years, the now cancelled tour would’ve been her first on Saheed Divas.

“I was overjoyed when I heard that Didi would address us on Saheed Divas. But now I’m told that the programme has been cancelled. I’m disappointed,” Maiti said.

Local Trinamul leader Abu Taher, who had been a part of the Nandigram movement, said the change of plans had upset local people.

“Saheed Divas is an emotion for the people here. Didi had said she would come and now that the plan has been cancelled, people are upset,” Taher, who is the vicepresident of Nandigram panchayat samiti, said.

The change in plans has also hit the BJP as former Trinamul minister and turncoat Suvendu Adhikari had announced that he would hold a rally to counter Mamata on January 8.

With Mamata not coming to Nandigram on January 7, the BJP is unsure about its January 8 plans.

“Since Mamata Banerjee has cancelled the programme, Suvendu doesn’t need to hold a counterrally,” said Kanishka Panda, a leader close to Adhikari.

“She has never come to Nandigram on this day. Suvendu’s popularity has scared her and she decided to be here,” Panda said.

“Mamata’s programme has been cancelled because Trinamul is afraid of the counterrally Suvendu had announced to hold on January 8,” he added and almost echoed what BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh said in Calcutta when asked for his reaction to the chief minister’s change in plan.

Panda asked why Trinamul could not hold a programme in Nandigram if Akhil Giri was unwell. “Giri is not the legislator from Nandigram, nor is he the party’s district chief,” Panda said.

The district Trinamul committee will meet over the cancellation of CM’s programme on Tuesday morning.

However, the party’s chief for the district and Contai MP Sisir Adhikari and Tamluk MP Dibyendu Adhikari, the father and brother of Suvendu Adhikari, respectively, were not invited to the meeting.