Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari managed to secure victories for the BJP in nine of 17 gram panchayats that lie within his Nandigram Assembly constituency.

“I congratulate the people of Nandigram for braving the atrocities of the Trinamul Congress and removing the thieves from the panchayat. This proves that the people of Nandigram are fighters,” Adhikari told this newspaper.

Of the 17 panchayats, one is hung and seven went to Trinamul.

Indications are he would pitch the Nandigram results as a failure of Trinamul national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who had led a mega rally from Chandipur to Nandigram days ahead of the polls. The BJP won all panchayat bodies that lie along the 20km route of the rally.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, Adhikari had defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee by 1,956 votes (0.85 per cent of the vote share). His one-on-one contest with Bengal’s most popular leader had put his political future on the line, as many even in the BJP had forecast an irrevocable downfall for him had his former boss managed to defeat him.

However, Adhikari’s win then ensured his popularity with the central leadership of the BJP, especially Union home minister Amit Shah. It won him the post of the leader of the Opposition as Mamata herself kept accusing him of having rigged the counting process to have her defeated.

“The panchayat election results in Nandigram suggest Suvenduda will not need to rig the Assembly elections to win. The people of Nandigram are genuinely with him,” said Pralay Pal, the BJP’s Tamluk organisational district chief.

Since 2021, Adhikari has been tactfully dividing his time between Nandigram and the rest of Bengal. While he made regular visits to Calcutta, he made sure he didn’t lose touch with the people of his constituency.

On July 8, the day of the rural polls, Adhikari was restricted from moving outside his booth area in Nandigram by the local administration. Initially, he had moved the court against this order, but the high court rejected his plea. Sources said that he then pivoted to focus on managing the elections in East Midnapore from his office.

Pal said Adhikari’s presence in Nandigram helped the party resist assault from the Trinamul. “They couldn’t rig the polls in Nandigram because Suvenduda was here,” he said, accusing the ruling party of having rigged the elections elsewhere in the district.

In East Midnapore, out of 223 gram panchayats, 132 went to Trinamul, 64 to the BJP and one to the Congress. Twenty-six panchayats are hung.

The BJP has won 42 as compared to Trinamul’s 109.

The BJP’s sub-par performance in the rest of East Midnapore prompted Adhikari to take a trip across party offices in the district, even as the results unfolded.

Sources in the party said the state unit of the BJP had wanted Adhikari to address a news conference, given that the party was performing relatively well in the elections. But he chose to remain in the district. “Suvenduda knows that East Midnapore is his principal source of power and popularity. He will do everything to keep this home turf secure,” said a source.