Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today finally ended the suspense over sharing seats with its I.N.D.I.A. partner, the Congress, by announcing party candidates in all 42 seats in West Bengal. Announcing the names at a massive Jonogorjon (People’s Roar) Sabha, Mamata Banerjee slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for its step-motherly attitude towards Bengal and ended all speculation of a possible tie up with I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Bengal.
Mamata said the Trinamool Congress would contest elections alone in the State, and “will also fight in Assam and Meghalaya”. “It will be Trinamool versus BJP in Bengal. Trinamool will fight alone,” Mamata said, adding that her opposition to the Congress and the CPM would continue. She further said her party was in talks with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party for contesting in “one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh”.
In the 42 seats, the Trinamool Congress fielded 26 new candidates, while 12 in the list are members of the Bengal legislative assembly, including State Ministers. Among the sitting MPs, Aparupa Poddar, alias Afreen Ali of Arambagh, Mathurapur’s Choudhury Mohan Jatua have also been dropped.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Trinamool Congress had barely managed to retain the Arambagh seat with little over 1,000-votes. “We had to drop some of the people. During the next Assembly polls or in any organizational role we will try to accommodate them,” Mamata said.
The party re-nominated 16 sitting MPs and fielded 12 women while dropping its Basirhat MP and actress Nusrat Jahan after the Sandeshkhali controversy. Haji Nurul Islam has been fielded from the seat instead. Actor Shatrughan Sinha will fight the Lok Sabha elections from Asansol. Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan has been fielded from Baharampur, a seat currently represented by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress.
Former cricketer Kirti Azad will contest from the Bardhaman- Durgapur constituency. Shortly after the announcement, Yusuf Khan posted on X: “I’m eternally grateful to Smt. Mamata Banerjee for welcoming me into the TMC family and trusting me with the responsibility to become the people’s voice in the Parliament. As representatives of the people, it is our duty to uplift the poor and deprived, and that is what I hope to achieve.”
Shortly after the announcement of the list, the Congress slammed Mamata for going solo in the State. Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary, posted on X: “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.”
The Trinamool Congress’ theme for Sunday’s “Jonogrojon” rally was “outsiders”, a barb employed by both Mamata and the party’s all- India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during their speeches.
The BJP reacted. Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT head and co-incharge of West Bengal and National Executive member, said: “The TMC list of candidates is such a damp squib. 7 of the 42 (17% of the names) in the list are former BJP, some discards. Shatrughan Sinha (Asansol), Kirti Azad (Bardhaman- Durgapur), Krishna Kalyani (Raiganj), Mukut Mani Adhikari (Ranaghat), Sujata Mondal (Bishnupur), Biswajit Das (Bangaon), Biplab Mitra (Balurghat).
Doesn’t the TMC have enough candidates of its own?” “Of them, Shatrughan Sinha, Kirti Azad and Yousuf Pathan are Bohiragotos (outsiders). TMC didn’t find enough sons of the soil to field?” “Abu Taher Khan, whose SUV dragged and killed a 6-year-old child, has been fielded from Murshidabad. Did TMC have any less criminals that Mamata Banerjee needed Taher on the list? And of course, Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Parliament for several violations and emerged as a face of impropriety.”
“Desperate to shed the appeasement charge, TMC has fielded just 6 Muslim candidates, compared to 7 last time. In all, the TMC list lacks sting given the spate of corruption cases against Abhishek Banerjee and arrest of several TMC ministers. Not to forget the taint of Sandeshkhali on Mamata Banerjee. 2024 LS will mark the beginning of the end of Mamata Banerjee’s misrule in Bengal.”