Trinamul Congress leaders have said the turnout at Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Tekhali near here on Monday afternoon outdid their expectations.

While police sources pegged the estimated attendance at 2.5 lakh, Trinamul Congress district leaders claimed a “3 lakh-plus” show-of-strength and quoted the chief minister’s words of it echoing a “Brigade rally”, a reference to Calcutta’s Brigade Parade Grounds, the benchmark of mega rallies.

The rally was organised in the wake of former Trinamul heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari’s switch to the BJP.

“The chief minister was pleasantly shocked when she emerged from the helicopter and greeted the sea of people awaiting her,” said Nandigram panchayat samiti deputy chief Abu Taher.

“She asked me whether the turnout had trumped her 2015 rally, and I said ‘indeed’. It probably even pipped the mega events of the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation in terms of turnout,” he added.

Sources said most attendees hailed from East Midnapore, and a substantial number from West Midnapore.

Eyewitnesses said both inroads via Khejuri and Chandipur were intermittently clogged from 8am by vans, trucks and tempos.

The vehicles were all carrying attendees “eager to gain closure over Suvendu’s defection”.

“This rally was notable because for once we did not have to goad people with free lunches or transportation to attend. They truly wanted to know what the word was,” Panskura municipality chairman Nandakumar Mitra, referring to the rally where Mamata eventually pitted herself as the party’s nominee from Nandigram for the Assembly polls.

When correspondents from this newspaper set out from Tamluk around 10.30am, they faced over 100 traffic knots before reaching Tekhali, barely 50km away, shortly before 1pm. On the way back, the situation was similar, with the 3km stretch from Tekhali to Makeshpur alone taking over an hour.

“We could not hire enough vehicles for supporters this time. Nonetheless, they paid out of their own pockets and clung to vehicle rooftops to attend,” said Trinamul labour arm’s district president Dibyendu Ray.

The Calcutta-Digha NH116B was reportedly clogged all day on Monday, causing severe backlogs to tourist traffic in the area.