Checkmating BJP: Mamata fields more movie stars, seeks to 'help' Left

The Trinamool Congress's candidates list for the coming Lok Sabha elections is full of surprises this time.

Surprising all political rivals in the state, TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee released the list of 42 candidates in one go on Tuesday, making hers the first party to do so in the state. Moreover, she has done something unbelievable in the selection of candidates by opting for over 40 per cent women (17 of 42), in addition to dumping a few trusted aides and adding some Tollywood glamour to the list.

Setting a record of sorts, Banerjee picked 17 women candidates to contest the 2019 parliamentary polls.

There are other surprises as well. Banerjee's most trusted aide, Subrata Bakshi, has been replaced in the South Kolkata constituency by Mala Roy, chairperson of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). South Kolkata used to be Banerjee’s own constituency until she became the chief minister. She had nominated Subrata Bakshi for the parliamentary seat when she resigned as MP and contested the assembly seat from Bhowanipur.

Announcing the list at her Kalighat home, Banerjee said 10 sitting MPs will not contest this time—two of them had switched over to the BJP—and will be engaged in organisational work instead.

Among the new faces, the biggest surprises were cine stars Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan, the youngest from Tollywood. They have been fielded from the two crucial seats of Jadavpur and Bashirhat. Jadavpur is one of the key Kolkata constituencies, from where Subhas Chandra Bose's kin Sugato Bose was dropped. Bose, a Harvard professor, Banerjee said, wasn’t allowed by his college to be in the fray this time and was therefore being replaced.

Apart from Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan, the other Tollywood stars who will be contesting the polls are Moon Moon Sen, Satabdi Roy and Dev from Asansol, Birbhum and Ghatal, respectively.

Addressing a press conference, Banerjee said the general election will sound the death knell for the BJP and bring an end to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “rule of fear”. The chief minister also slammed the Modi government over a host of issues, including the Rafale deal, farm distress and shrinking employment opportunities.

Supporting Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against the Modi government over the Rafale deal, Banerjee said, “I completely agree with what Rahul Gandhi is saying about the Rafale scam. The BJP is even threatening journalists like N. Ram for speaking the truth.”

The Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee added, will also contest some seats in Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Yesteryear’s actor Moon Moon Sen, who pulled off an upset victory over CPI(M) veteran Basudeb Acharia in Bankura in 2014, has been shifted to Asansol, where she is likely to take on BJP candidate and singer-turned-Union Minister Babul Supriyo.

Veteran state politician and senior minister Subrata Mukherjee has replaced Sen for Bankura seat.

Among the new faces, sitting legislator Mohua Moitra will contest from Nadia's Krishnanagar constituency, instead of Bengali film star Tapas Paul, who was grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Rose Valley ponzi scam case. Congress MP from Malda North Mausam Noor, who had joined the TMC recently, will be in the fray as a Trinamool candidate from the same seat.

Rajya Sabha MP Manas Bhunia would fight from Medinipur, where Trinamool has dropped its sitting MP and veteran Bengali film actress Sandhya Roy, who, Banerjee claimed, now preferred to take "a more sedate responsibility owing to her ill health".

From Raiganj in northern Bengal's North Dinajpur district, Banerjee gave the party ticket to sitting MLA Kanaia Lal Agarwal, who had crossed over to Trinamool after winning the 2016 assembly polls as a Congress nominee.

Amar Singh Rai, a sitting Gorkha Janmukti Morcha legislator from Darjeeling, will contest from Darjeeling constituency, backed by the pro-Banerjee faction of the GJM. BJP's S.S. Ahluwalia, now a Union minister, had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Shyamal Santra would fight it out from Bishnupur in Bankura district, where the party's sitting parliamentarian, Saumitra Khan, has crossed over to the BJP. In Bolpur Lok Sabha constituency, senior Trinamool leader Asit Mal has replaced young MP Anupam Hazra, who was also expelled from the party for anti-party activities and formally joined the BJP on Tuesday.

Trinamool's Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was arrested by the CBI in Rose Valley case, would seek re-election from Kolkata North. Another veteran, Sougata Roy—who was also among a dozen TMC leaders caught for allegedly taking money for favours to a fictitious company in a video grab uploaded on the Narada news portal—will also throw his hat in the ring from his current Dum Dum seat.

Banerjee claimed that Bakshi opted out of the race for South Kolkata constituency on his own as he was more keen on party work. However, political observers feel that it will be a cakewalk for the CPI(M) in Jadavpur seat. The CPI(M) is expected to release its list of candidates on March 13.

According to Left Front sources, senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty, who had always left his mark in Jadavpur, is likely to fight against Mimi Chakraborty. Poll observers think that Raigunj too will be an easy target for the Left. Kania Lala Agarwal, who has hardly any presence in Raigunj, will be fighting against CPI(M) strongman Mohammed Salim.

“By fielding a few weak candidates, the ruling TMC had paved the way for the Left Front to win more seats in the polls. Now we have to wait and watch the strategy of the saffron camp. But we feel that the CPI(M) now has more chances to increase its seats in comparison to their present two seats at Raigunj and Murshidabad,” said an observer.

This article was originally published in onmanorama