Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced the name of the first candidate for the 2021 Assembly polls in Bengal.

The name is Mamata Banerjee and the seat Nandigram, which once pitch-forked her into the political stratosphere and which now symbolises the threat to her continuation at the top.

Never known for shying away from a good fight, the chief minister worked the huge crowd on the Tekhali ground in Nandigram: “I am not naming anyone as the candidate from Nandigram right now.… But I will give a good candidate, who will be working hard for the people.”

Mamata was probably in two minds. But any doubt she may have had appeared to have drowned in the eruption of applause from the audience.

After a brief pause, she asked: “What if I contest from Nandigram?”

The applause went on for a minute or so.

Mamata’s candidature willy-nilly throws the gauntlet at Suvendu Adhikari, who represented the constituency as a Trinamul legislator until he resigned as an MLA and joined the BJP last month.

Till now, Suvendu has been silent on whether he would contest the polls but after Mamata’s challenge, he has little option but to bite the bullet. Suvendu told a rally in Calcutta he would ensure the defeat of Mamata in Nandigram by 50,000 votes. (See Metro)

Mamata later said she would contest as usual from her home turf, Bhowanipore. “Bhowanipore is like the elder sister while Nandigram is the younger sister.… I will contest from both seats,” she said.

More than 2 lakh people had turned up at Mamata’s show of strength on the ground, prompting her to equate it with Calcutta’s sprawling Brigade.

“My conscience tells me that I should contest from Nandigram.... It’s a rural area. My wish is that my name should be there as the candidate from Nandigram,” Mamata said, stealing a glance at Subrata Bakshi, the Trinamul state president who is officially in charge of the party’s candidate list.

“Nandigram is lucky for me. In the 2016 elections, I had started the campaign from here. We won that election. We will win again in 2021,” the chief minister said.

On December 21, 2015, Mamata had launched her poll campaign for the following year’s Assembly polls from the same Tekhali ground by naming Suvendu, who was an MP then, as the candidate from Nandigram.

Bengal politics has, however, changed a lot since then. The BJP, which won only three seats in the last Assembly polls, has emerged as the main Opposition party and has publicly set the goal of coming to power in Bengal with more than 200 seats.

With Suvendu joining the saffron camp, the narrative has started commanding higher traction in several parts of the state.

When Mamata strode towards the dais, the expectation was she would contest that narrative and downplay Suvendu’s crossover to the BJP. Several Trinamul insiders said that hardly anyone in the party had expected her to end up nominating herself as the Trinamul candidate from Nandigram.

Mamata appears to have made up her mind after seeing the turnout and after an attempt to strike a chord with the people. “In case there has been any mistake, slap me, but don’t turn your face away,” she said.

The candidature was announced after Mamata explained her connect with Nandigram and the anti-land-acquisition movement she had led in 2007.

A West Midnapore Trinamul MLA told this correspondent after the meeting: “This is a masterstroke.… Suvendu can’t be seen as running away from the challenge as that will erode his credibility. And if he contests, he will have to work round the clock to put up a fight against Didi. That will rob him of the opportunity to campaign across Bengal.”

According to the MLA, some leaders in the party had proposed Mamata as the candidate at internal party meetings chaired by Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee and poll consultant Prashant Kishor.

“But we were told that Suvendu wasn’t a big enough leader for Didi to have to contest against him. Now that she has decided to contest from Nandigram, nothing can be better for the party,” the MLA said.

Over the past month or so, almost all senior Trinamul leaders have publicly tried to downplay the possible electoral impact of Suvendu’s defection to the BJP, but there have been concerns as well.

On Suvendu’s home turf, Mamata started her speech by allaying such concerns.

Without naming anyone, she said the attempts by a few to go “idhar-udhar (here and there)” would not have any effect on the polls. She added that those leaving the party and joining the BJP were doing so to save their ill-gotten wealth.

“You people can leave and go anywhere you want to. That’s your right.… I wish you the best so that in future you can become the Prime Minister or the President of the country. You can even become world leaders, but I will not allow the BJP to sell Bengal as long as I’m alive,” she said.

Unlike several other Trinamul leaders, Mamata didn’t name Suvendu or anyone from his family during her address. Suvendu’s father Sisir and brother Dibyendu still remain Trinamul MPs. Both were absent from the day’s programme.

The chief minister made it clear that she had tried her best to give the Adhikari clan their due share of importance.

“Once, they were with us…. I tried to give them whatever I could. Let them be happy, I wish them 100 years of life,” Mamata said.