KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress announced on Sunday candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, getting IPL franchise KKR’s retired star all-rounder Yusuf Pathan to pad up for his political debut. The party included 25 other fresh faces and dropped five sitting MPs from the team. It has also settled the veteran-versus-new debate by retaining several old warhorses.
Expelled Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra features among the 16 from TMC’s winning 2019 line-up to be renominated.
Pathan, who played seven seasons for KKR and was part of the 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup-winning teams, will contest the Behrampore seat against a possibly formidable opponent in state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. TMC blames the latter for INDIA bloc falling apart in Bengal. Besides Pathan, 1983 ODI World Cup winner Kirti Azad figures in the list.
Azad, a former three-time BJP MP, has been fielded in Burdwan-Durgapur.
Actors Mimi Chakraborty and Nussrat Jahan are among the five who didn’t make the cut – the former had announced weeks ago that she was done with politics – but TMC ‘talent spotters’ have made sure it won’t miss the flavour of showbiz in its politics. Rachana Banerjee, producer of the TV show ‘Didi No 1’, in which Mamata appeared a few days ago, is the candidate for Hooghly. Actor and TMC state youth wing president Saayoni Ghosh replaces Mimi in Jadavpur,
Haji Nurul Islam, MLA from Haroa and ex-Basirhat MP, has been re-nominated from his old Lok Sabha constituency, replacing Nussrat, who was criticised within the party for not visiting Sandeshkhali during the unrest there.
TMC reposed trust in old warhorses like Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy, fielding them in tricky seats like Kolkata North and Dum Dum, respectively. Their nomination dispelled speculation about an overhaul sparked by Mamata’s nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee speaking about an “age cap” on several occasions.
TMC reposes trust in old warhorses in tricky seats
The TMC reposed trust in old warhorses like Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy, fielding them in tricky seats like Kolkata North and Dum Dum, respectively.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who won the Asansol LS bypoll in 2022, is among those on the list announced at a rally in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds by Abhishek.
TMC’s social media unit’s state in-charge Debangshu Bhattacharya is seen as a surprise pick for Tamluk, where the BJP is likely to field former HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay. Retired IPS officer Prasun Bandyopadhyay will contest Malda North.
TMC usually announces its list of candidates from party chief Mamata’s residence. On Sunday, Mamata chose a different venue for a reason.
“You are going to witness something new today,” she said. “I am going to walk this ramp with all 42 candidates. We have tried to pick candidates by giving a lot of thought to it. I feel sorry for those whom we couldn’t pick. But don’t feel upset, there are more elections coming, including assembly polls. You will get tickets then.”
Arjun Singh, who defected to the BJP in 2019 and won the Barrackpore seat, missed out despite returning to the TMC last year. The exclusion of Naihati MLA Partha Bhowmik was another surprise.