- Pabitra Kar, former BJP panchayat chief, rejoined Trinamool Congress on Tuesday
- Kar left TMC in 2020, joined BJP, helped build BJP structure in Boyal-1 area
- Kar was close to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who beat Mamata Banerjee in 2021
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.
.@BJP4India's decline and Trinamool Congress' march forward have taken another decisive step in Nandigram.
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) March 17, 2026
In the presence of our National General Secretary Shri @abhishekaitc, Shri Pabitra Kar, former BJP leader from Nandigram, joined the Trinamool Congress today.
His… pic.twitter.com/OEIW94lzok
The TMC, in a social media post, said Kar was "dissatisfied with the BJP's anti-people stance".
In the presence of our Hon'ble National General Secretary Shri @abhishekaitc, Shri Pabitra Kar, former BJP leader from Boyal-I Gram Panchayat under Nandigram-II Block in Purba Medinipur, joined the Trinamool Congress family today.
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) March 17, 2026
Dissatisfied with BJP's anti-people stance, he… pic.twitter.com/MtqJGhfOKJ
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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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