Congress | Mamata Banerjee
Congress says it won't contest bypoll against Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata's Bhawanipore
Kolkata/IBNS: Putting an end to all speculations, the Congress party on Tuesday announced that it would not field a candidate against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming Bhawanipore bypoll from where she is contesting later this month.
The Congress party will also refrain from campaigning against her.
The Left Front, which had earlier said that if the Congress is not willing to contest, then it was ready to do so. However, the party is yet to react to this latest Congress position.
The two were in alliance for the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year. Both failed to bag any seat.
"The Congress feels that by fielding a candidate against the Chief Minister, it may indirectly help the BJP in some way and the high command does not want to do that," West Bengal Congress chief and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told NDTV.
The Bhawanipore bypoll will be held on Sept 30.
Banerjee is contesting it as she has to get elected to the state Assembly by Nov 4, within six months of taking charge as the Chief Minister, which she did on May 5.
She lost the Nandigram assembly seat to her former aide, the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, in the legislative polls held earlier this year.
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