Tag: Bhowanipore bypoll

  • Bhowanipore set for unequal battle as CM Mamata Banerjee faces ‘lightweight’ rivals

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the Trinamool Congress’ triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with “lightweight” rivals in her own lair–Bhowanipore.

    Banerjee, who described herself as an “injured tigress” after an incident on the campaign trail in Nandigram which left her with a plastered foot, and was licking her wounds following her defeat at the hands of one-time protege Suvendu Adhikari, will likely roar back to victory, those watching the electoral battle unfold in the constituency feel.

    She is pitted in the by-poll against Priyanka Tibrewal of the BJP and CPM’s Srijib Biswas.

    Tibrewal, whom the state BJP president Dilip Ghosh called a “fearless soul”, is a lawyer and one of the petitioners in a string of PILs filed against the TMC government over incidents of violence that rocked West Bengal after the assembly elections in March-April this year, but has nothing to show by way of political accomplishments.

    She had contested the assembly election from Entally and lost. Biswas is a political greenhorn. For the BJP, political analysts say, the battle for Bhabanipur is more about retaining its 35 per cent vote share than winning the seat.

    For the once mighty Left, it’s about proving it is still alive if not kicking in a state which it ruled for 34 years without a break. For the redoubtable Mamata Banerjee, it is not only about exacting revenge for her defeat in Nandigram but her larger ambition to play a key role in shaping the opposition’s future in national politics.

    The Congress, after initial prevarication, decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee and also stay away from campaigning. Both the Congress and the Left, which fought the assembly elections in alliance, had drawn a blank.

    “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai (Bhabanipur wants her own daughter)” has become the battle cry for the TMC rank and file as they have plunged headlong into the campaign for the 66-year-old Banerjee, a resident of Bhabanipur.

    Banerjee had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the volatile state, to dare BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, now the Leader of the Opposition, on his home turf.

    She now must win Bhabanipur to ensure an unbroken stint as the chief minister. Banerjee is required to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in conformity with the constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister.

    The Constitution allows a non-member of a state legislature or Parliament to continue in a ministerial position without getting elected only for six months. After her defeat in Nandigram, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur, vacated the seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    “For us, victory is not an issue. That Mamata Banerjee will win this seat is a foregone conclusion, even the opposition parties know that. Our target is to ensure a victory by a record margin. The people have decided to elect the chief minister by a record margin to avenge the conspiracy that was hatched in Nandigram,” senior minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee told PTI.

    Top leaders like Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Bakshi have been deployed to manage the campaign in the constituency in Kolkata with eight municipal wards, two of which have sizeable Muslim population which has stood firm behind the TMC supremo through times good and bad.

    “We are happy that Didi is back in our constituency. It is a matter of pride for us that the CM is our neighbour,” said Pradyut Roy, a Bhabanipur resident, reflecting the resonance “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai” slogan has found with the local people.

    “Everybody knows who will win. But we want civic issues to be addressed, especially during the rains, as early as possible,” said another voter. Chattopadhyay had won Bhabanipur for the TMC defeating his BJP rival by more than 28,000 votes.

    Smarting under the assembly poll defeat and defection of its MLAs to the TMC thereafter, the BJP, had a tough time finding a candidate for the by-poll. “Most senior leaders were unwilling to fight the by-poll against Mamata Banerjee and that too from Bhabanipur. We have to ensure that our vote share remains intact and rather increases,” a senior BJP leader said, requesting not to be named.

    Tibrewal is, however, confident about her victory and has decided to make post-poll violence a major poll plank. “Mamata Banerjee is fighting this election to save the chief minister’s chair. My task will be to reach out to the people of the constituency and inform them about the atrocities, torture and violence that her party unleashed on opposition workers after the assembly polls. I am confident that people of Bhabanipur will vote for me and defeat her,” Tibrewal, state vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), said.

    Left Front candidate Srijib Biswas said the alleged lack of development under Banerjee will be a key issue in the by-poll. “Our fight is against both the TMC and the BJP. We will highlight how there has been no development in the state in the last 10 years,” he said.

    A metropolitan constituency with around two lakh voters, Bhabanipur is home to a sizeable number of Gujaratis, Sikh and Biharis living alongside Bengalis. For a long time after it was created in 1952, the constituency was a bastion of the Congress.

    The constituency ceased to exist after the 1977 delimitation but revived in 2011. The TMC has won the seat in all the three assembly elections that were held there ever since. However, in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had led from the assembly segment which is a part of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency, which Banerjee has won six times.

    The BJP managed to take a lead in the assembly segment in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as non-Bengali voters plumped for it, but failed to maintain a grip on the sizeable Sikh and Punjabi population in the 2021 assembly elections following the farmers’ agitation in Punjab.

    “The Bhabanipur assembly by-poll is a battle of the unequal. On one hand you have Bengal’s most heavyweight politician and on the other two political lightweights. The TMC is fighting to secure a record margin. The BJP, whose own house is in complete chaos, is fighting to retain their vote share. The Left is fighting to make its presence felt,” said political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty.

    Another political analyst Suman Bhattacharya concurred, and said it is of great significance that the Congress has decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee or campaign against her for the first time. “This poll is also a sort of litmus test for national opposition unity as two major players– Congress and the TMC– have decided to virtually come together to take on the BJP,” he said.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal holds rally ahead of filing nomination

    By ANI

    KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Priyanka Tibrewal on Monday held a rally ahead of filing her nomination for by-elections to the Bhabanipur seat. Tibrewal, who is taking on West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee, said that it is a fight against injustice.

    “I would like to tell the people of Bhabanipur that they have received a big opportunity. So, they should come forward in this fight against injustice and make history,” she stated. Tibrewal informed that she will file her nomination papers in the afternoon and visited a temple to seek blessings.

    Earlier on Saturday, the BJP candidate took a dig at Mamata Banerjee and said that the people of the state have the right to live but this right is being taken away by Banerjee and her party. She also claimed that the elections would not be conducted with transparency as the ruling party supports violence and later appealed to the people of West Bengal to come out and cast their vote.

    Bhabanipur by-polls will primarily be a contest between Tibrewal and Banerjee as Congress, on September 8, announced that the party will not be fielding any candidate for the by-polls. Bypolls will be held in Bhabanipur on September 30 and results will be declared by October 3.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: Fresh war of words erupts between BJP and TMC

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: In the midst of Bhowanipore bypolls, a fresh war of words erupted between the TMC and the BJP on Sunday. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting the assembly seat to become an MLA in order to continue as the administrative head of the state.

    TMC minister Firhad Hakim, who is campaigning door-to-door for his party supremo, rubbished BJP’s claim of giving their rivals a tough fight. “Who is she. How the BJP’s candidate is useful? What is her contribution to our society? Is it an edible item or useful for our hair?,” the minister said attacking BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal.

    Priyanka, who is one of the petitioners in post-poll violence cases against the TMC in Kolkata High Court which resulted in a CBI probe, was quick to respond. She said, “I defeated the TMC-ruled state government in the high court. He (Hakim) should have congratulated me first. The verdict of Bhowanipore’s voters on September 30 will help him to identify who I am.”

    Referring to Priyanka’s defeat in the recent Assembly elections from Entally constituency, Hakim labelled her as a bacha meye (young girl). “She is a young girl. She had been defeated earlier in the Assembly elections. As no senior BJP leader was ready to contest against Mamata Banerjee, they have pushed the young girl into this battle-ground,” he said.

    Admitting her contender is a senior politician, Priyanka said, “My rival Mamata Banerjee and her campaigner Firhad Hakim are much senior and older than me. But I am here to fight the battle to save democracy and the people of Bengal from TMC’s terror.”

    Bengal BJP accused the ruling TMC of attacking its candidate in such poor fashion to which the electorates do not approve. “The people of Nandigram rejected Mamata Banerjee and the same verdict she will face in Bhowanipore,” said BJP’s spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya.

    Both the TMC and the BJP has pressed its heavyweights into action for the high-voltage Assembly elections. Mamata assigned her prominent lieutenants like Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Madan Mitra to launch massive campaign to ensure victory in her erstwhile constituency. The BJP, too, is all set to engage its high-profile campaigners which include Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Bihar’ singer-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari and former TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, who joined the saffron camp, considering the character of the electorates of Bhowanipore consisting of 40% non-Bengal voters.

  • TMC leaders being targeted soon after Bhowanipore bypoll dates were announced, claims Mamata

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the BJP of using central agencies to target Trinamool Congress leaders pursuing its vendetta politics, as soon as the assembly by-poll dates were announced.

    The TMC supremo, who started her poll campaign for the Bhowanipore by-election, also alleged that the saffron party is targeting party general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for political reasons, claiming there is no valid case against him.

    Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for about nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Monday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam in West Bengal.

    ​ALSO READ | Bhowanipore bypoll: Congress not to field candidate against Mamata

    “We only know how we fought against all odds to win the assembly polls. The BJP brought in goons from other states during the assembly elections. I had to contest this by-poll as a conspiracy was hatched against me (in Nandigram),” she said while addressing a workers’ meet here.

    Banerjee was defeated by the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from the Nandigram seat in the assembly elections held earlier this year.

    ​ALSO READ | Bhowanipore bypoll: Bengal BJP struggles to find candidate against Mamata

    She needs to win the by-poll to continue as chief minister.

    “The BJP is pursuing vendetta politics and is targeting Abhishek Banerjee….As soon as by-poll dates are announced, TMC leaders are being summoned by (central) agencies,” she said.

    Meanwhile, Banerjee also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure that Covaxin is recognised by it, so that those who availed that vaccine against Covid-19 can travel abroad.

  • Bhowanipore bypoll: Bengal BJP struggles to find candidate against Mamata

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Surprised by the Election Commission of India’s announcement to hold bypoll in the Bhowanipore Assembly constituency, the beleaguered Bengal BJP has appeared to be in a state of disarray on the issue of who would be its candidate to take on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the south Kolkata seat.

    When the duel between Mamata and her former lieutenant-turned-BJP-candidate Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram constituency drew nationwide attention in the recent Assembly polls, the saffron camp in Bengal is completely perplexed as it was not prepared to face such a high-voltage bypoll within less than a month from now.

    “There were 32 Assembly constituencies across the country where by-elections are pending because of Covid pandemic. We had no idea that the poll panel would consider the Bhowanipore constituency as an exception when it decided not to hold by-poll in the other 31 Assembly seats. We were confident that the Commission will continue toeing our line and keep deferring the bypolls so that Mamata would miss her November 5 deadline to get elected as an MLA and continue as the CM,” said a BJP leader.

    ALSO READ | Bengal bypoll: Congress unlikely to field candidate against Mamata Banerjee in Bhowanipore seat

    A section of BJP functionaries expressed their displeasure on the party’s tactical line. “When our plan of deferring the by-election did not work, it is surprising that our leadership had no plan B. They had unflinching faith in the central leadership’s ability to take the commission into confidence and defer the by-election. As a result, no one thought who could be our candidate against Mamata if the by-election is announced,” said a BJP functionary in Kolkata.

    Sections within the party eve started mulling over the moving court to get a stay from the judiciary on the by-election.

    “Our party should field a popular or heavyweight candidate against Mamata. It will send a positive message down to the grassroots despite the chances of winning is almost zero. If the party fields a weak candidate only to participate in the electoral practice, it will not go down well. Especially at a time, when our legislative strength reduced to 71 from 77,” said the leader.       

    Many, known to be from the lobby of state president Dilip Ghosh who are not happy with Adhikari’s meteoric rise in the party, suggested Adhikari’s name. “Adhikari claimed before the Assembly elections that Mamata would have lost from her erstwhile Bhowanipore constituency. Why doesn’t he resigns as Nandigram MLA and contest against Mamata?’’ said a BJP leader.