West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Ex-Suvendu loyalist rejoins TMC amid speculations he may be pitted against Bengal LoP in Nandigram

The TMC, in a social media post, said Pabitra Kar was "dissatisfied with the BJP's anti-people stance".

Kolkata: A former BJP panchayat chief, who was known to be close to senior party leader Suvendu Adhikari, on Tuesday rejoined the ruling TMC amid speculations that he may be pitted against the leader of the opposition in Nandigram seat in the upcoming assembly polls.

Pabitra Kar, a former panchayat pradhan of Boyal-1 gram panchayat in Nandigram-2 block of Purba Medinipur district, rejoined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The TMC, in a social media post, said Kar was "dissatisfied with the BJP's anti-people stance".

Kar, who quit the TMC in November 2020 to join the BJP, played a significant role in consolidating the saffron party's organisational structure in the Boyal-1 area and was believed to have been instrumental in securing a lead for the BJP in the region in the 2021 assembly elections. Adhikari had defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a slender margin of a little over 1,900 votes in Nandigram.

Kar taking up the TMC flag from Abhishek Banerjee barely hours ahead of the scheduled announcement of the party's candidate list has led to fervent speculations in the state's political circles that he may be pitted against Adhikari in the Nandigram assembly seat.