Overview
- Mamata Banerjee publicly announced support for Congress nominee Milan Pradhan on September 18, withdrawing her faction’s candidate to avoid splitting the anti‑BJP vote.
- Hours after her Sept. 18 announcement, Milan Pradhan was arrested on multiple old non‑bailable warrants linked to the 2007 Nandigram cases and sent to judicial custody until October 3.
- The endorsement follows an Election Commission decision to freeze the Trinamool Congress’s traditional name and symbol and allot separate identities to rival TMC factions, deepening the party’s organisational crisis.
- Congress leaders gave a cautious welcome, with senior figures praising the support but downplaying any immediate formal merger and accusing authorities of politically timed legal action over Pradhan’s arrest.
- The move revives a pattern of ad hoc TMC–Congress cooperation in Bengal and could reshape opposition tactics in the state by testing whether short‑term electoral coordination expands into broader INDIA bloc cooperation.