Putting an end to speculation over its pre-poll seat sharing with the Congress party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday announced candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
The list of Trinamool Congress candidates had certain surprises, including former cricketers Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore and Kirti Azad from the Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. The party retained veteran MPs, including Sudip Banerjee from Kolkata and Saugata Roy from the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, and Kalyan Banerjee from Serampore.
While the party dropped Nushrat Jahan from Basirhat (the constituency under which Sandeshkhali falls), it has fielded popular Bengali actors Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and June Maliah from Medinipur. Also, among those dropped by TMC is Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who won the 2019 elections on a BJP ticket but later returned to TMC.
Shatrughan Sinha, who had won the byelection at Asansol in 2021, has been fielded from Asansol.
The Trinamool Congress has also placed its faith in new faces, including youth leader Debangshu Bhattacharya from Tamluk, and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Prasun Banerjee from Malda North. Mr. Banerjee resigned from service only days ago.
Among women MPs, the Trinamool Congress has renominated Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat. Trinamool youth leader Sayani Ghosh has been fielded from Jadavpur, replacing Mimi Chakraborty, while Abhishek Banerjee will seek renomination from Diamond Harbour.
Two BJP MLAs, Krishna Kaylani and Mukut Mani Adhikari, who had won on a BJP ticket in 2021 and later defected to Trinamool, have been given Lok Sabha tickets from Raiganj in north Bengal and Ranaghat in south Bengal, respectively.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee introduced the Lok Sabha candidates at the party’s Jon Gorjan Sabha (People’s Roar Rally) at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. “We will accommodate those who could not get tickets in the Assembly elections, or with party posts,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson said. Ms. Banerjee said that the Trinamool Congress will field candidates in Assam and Meghalaya, and is also in talks with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav for fielding a candidate in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress leadership reacted to the TMC making “unilateral announcements” of candidates for the Lok Sabha election.
“The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
Reacting to the candidature of Mr. Pathan from Baharampur, State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that it was an attempt to divide the Muslim votes in the constituency. “If Trinamool wanted to honour Yusuf Pathan, they could have asked INDIA alliance to field him from Gujarat or nominate to the Rajya Sabha. The Trinamool wants to divide Muslim vote from Bahrampur, which is why they have fielded Yusuf Pathan from here,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
Mr. Pathan’s nomination also comes at a time when speculation is rife that the BJP may field a cricketer from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.
Addressing the gathering at the Brigade Parade grounds, Ms. Banerjee set out the pitch for the upcoming Lok Sabha election by raising the issue of denial of funds to the State.
Ms. Banerjee also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign pitch of ‘Modi’s guarantee’. “What kind of guarantee is it? That does not have a value,” she said.
“The BJP government has reduced the price of cooking gas cylinders by ₹100 before the Lok Sabha polls, and after the elections, [they] will increase the price by ₹1,000,” Ms. Banerjee alleged.
She refuted allegations of siphoning of funds meant as wages for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by saying that the funds had not been released for a couple of years so the question of their misuse did not arise.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson also raised the issue of the recent resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel. “The first thing I will talk about is the resignation of the Election Commissioner. News reports showed how they have tried taking over forceful control of Bengal and he [the Election Commissioner] didn’t accept this. We salute him from this meeting. In the name of the [Election] Commission [of India], they are a blot on the reputation [of the ECI], working at the behest of the BJP government,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Speaking at the rally, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee raised the pitch against the BJP by calling them “Bahirgata and Bangla birodhi (outsiders and those opposed to Bengal)”. “There are 28 States and eight Union Territories but the funds have been stopped only to Bengal. Is BJP opposed to Bengal or not?” Mr. Banerjee asked the gathering.
Claiming that there was no warranty in the PM’s guarantee, the TMC leader asked the gathering in whose guarantee they believed — “Modi or Didi’s”.
