NEW DELHI: The by-election battle for Nandigram, scheduled for October 6, has turned into a full-blown political storm after Congress candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested in connection with an old murder case just hours after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC faction announced support for him. Congress leaders have united in condemning the arrest, vowing to emerge victorious in the by-polls.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi claimed that the arrest was “no coincidence,” but rather politically motivated. He accused the BJP of “clinging” to power through “vote theft and stealing government and parties”, stating that its aim is to “end the electoral fight”.
“The arrest of Congress candidate Milan Pradhan for the Nandigram by-election is no coincidence it is political revenge, the murder of democracy. The BJP has no faith in fair elections that’s why it wants to cling to power sometimes through vote theft, sometimes through stealing governments, and sometimes through stealing parties. They don’t want to contest elections; they want to end the electoral fight altogether. The Congress will neither fear nor bow down. We will fight and we will win,” he said on X.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge levelled similar charges, calling the arrest “a brazen attempt at VOTE CHORI and CHUNAV CHORI,” asserting that Congress will fight back.
“The BJP is so insecure that even in a by-election, it is misusing agencies to target and arrest an Opposition candidate. The Prime Minister boasts of India as the “Mother of Democracy”. What the BJP is doing in West Bengal is the MURDER OF DEMOCRACY. Congress will neither be intimidated nor silenced. A united INDIA will fight back,” Kharge said on X.
