Tag: Rudranil Ghosh

  • Veteran TMC leader pitted against actor-turned-BJP greenhorn in Bhabanipur

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A seasoned actor but a greenhorn in electoral politics, Rudranil Ghosh has been fielded by the BJP from the prestigious Bhabanipur assembly constituency in south Kolkata, a seat left by Bengal Chief Minister and TMC boss Mamata Banerjee as she chose to contest the polls from Nandigram.

    The TMC chief had described the seat, of which she is the sitting MLA and a resident, as her “boro bon” (elder sister) at a poll rally in Nandigram, and reposed faith in veteran politician and state power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay to make a hat-trick of wins for the party.

    Under the shadow of Banerjee’s influence, the assembly segment has been the stronghold of the ruling TMC since it came into being for the second time in 2011, following the delimitation exercise.

    For Chattopadhyay, who had fought assembly elections seven times and won each of the contests, the constituency is his home turf as he is a resident of the area and exercises his franchise there.

    The BJP, however, described Banerjee’s decision to leave Bhabanipur and fight against her protege-turned- adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the saffron party from Nandigram, as a “desperate move sensing imminent defeat”.

    Ghosh, who has received accolades for his performances in ‘Vinci Da’ and ‘Chaplin’, said a large section of people in Bhabanipur are non-Bengalis and may have not watched his films, but they are aware of his social work in the area.

    “Sixty per cent of the voters here may have not seen my films, but they know me for my social work. They also know that no graft charge has ever been filed against me. People in Bhabanipur have become disillusioned with Mamata Banerjee in the last couple of years. She fled to Nandigram sensing imminent defeat here,” Ghosh, who was once an aide of the TMC supremo but fell out with her two years back, told PTI.

    The constituency, which has 2,06,272 voters, is home to a sizeable number of Gujaratis, Sikhs, Biharis and Marwaris, who live alongside Bengalis.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a bid to drum up support for Ghosh, recently held a door-to-door campaign in the Bhabanipur constituency, the only such public outreach programme by the heavyweight leader in the state.

    “His (Shah’s) energy is infectious. It inspires us. It acted as a catalyst for the swelling support pouring in for me,” said Ghosh who joined the saffron party in January.

    Talking about the trolling that he had to endure on social media after switching camp, Ghosh said, “I am not affected by these jibes aimed at me, mostly by the CPI(M) and the TMC camps.”

    “The Left had not worked for the poor people who voted for it for three decades. The TMC also did precious little for the underprivileged who had elected it to power in 2011. Instead, they cheated and looted them,” he said.

    Asked if he would be able to divide time between his on-screen commitments and political responsibilities, Ghosh said, “A Bengali film’s shoot lasts for 15 days. We don’t work in more than five films in a year. That comes to 75 days. I would still have 290 days to work for people.”

    To a question about close friend and film director Raj Chakraborty, who is contesting as a TMC nominee, besides other industry colleagues such as Chiranjit and Saayoni Ghosh, the BJP candidate said, “I have nothing to comment on their individual decision, their ideology.”

    “However, I don’t know if they will take responsibility for the atrocities perpetrated by the TMC, the theft of the cyclone Amphan relief funds, the theft of ration by TMC leaders, and the patronisation of cut money (bribery) culture all these years.

    If they are contesting on TMC tickets, they must also be supporting the misdeeds of the ruling party of the state,” he said.

    He claimed that his TMC rival Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, despite being a senior politician, never protested against the wrongdoings of some TMC leaders in the area.

    Chattopadhyay, however, is absolutely confident of retaining the seat for his party.

    “I take every fight in my stride. I, as a veteran politician, know how to win a political battle. It is not a big challenge as the chief minister has already prepared the political ground here,” the 77-year-old TMC contestant said.

    The power minister, who was a state- and national- level boxing champion and has a mountaineering degree, is leaving no stone unturned to win this political game.

    Bhabanipur has never disappointed the TMC, except in 2014 general election, when the BJP managed to get a slender lead from this assembly segment — a part of Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency.

    Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant Subrata Bakshi had won the seat in 2011, when the party fought the election in alliance with the Congress, by nearly 50,000 votes, defeating nearest rival Narayan Prasad Jain of the CPI(M).

    The BJP was nowhere in the contest, having bagged just 3.74 per cent votes.

    Within a few months, Bakshi vacated the seat to pave the way for Banerjee, who was then an MP, to get elected to the state assembly.

    The TMC chief had won the by-poll by a margin of 54,000 votes.

    The TMC boss, who is a voter of Bhabanipur constituency, also bagged the seat by over 25,000 votes in the 2016 state elections, while the Congress’ Deepa Dasmunshi came second and the BJP’s Chandrakumar Bose third.

    The ruling partys victory margin, however, fell drastically to a little more than 3,000 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    According to political analysts, Banerjee’s decision to fight the polls from Nandigram could be an outcome of a “political calculation” as she had alienated many constituents in Bhabanipur with her rhetoric against “outsiders” or non- Bengalis who live in the area.

    The TMC, however, has clarified on several occasions that the ‘outsider’ barb was directed at “goons who came from other states to create disturbances amid the elections”.

    Bhabanipur constituency will go to polls in the seventh phase of assembly elections on April 26.

  • Rajib Banerjee, other disgruntled Trinamool leaders join BJP ahead of Bengal polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: A day after quitting the Trinamool Congress, former West Bengal minister Rajib Banerjee joined the BJP in New Delhi on Saturday along with a few other disgruntled leaders of the state’s ruling party in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Banerjee and MLAs Prabir Ghosal and Baishali Dalmiya, who was expelled from the TMC a few days ago, former Howrah Mayor Rathin Chakraborty and actor Rudranil Ghosh flew to the national capital on a special plane from Kolkata, and met central BJP leaders.

    They have joined the BJP, party general secretary and the party’s Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya told PTI following the meeting.

    Later, Shah tweeted, “Former TMC leaders Mr. Rajib Banerjee, Ms. Baishali Dalmiya, Mr. Prabir Ghoshal, Mr. Rathin Chakraborti and Mr. Rudranil Ghosh joined BJP today in New Delhi. I am sure their induction will further strengthen BJP’s fight for Sonar Bangla.”

    BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy and Vijayvargiya arrived in Delhi with them.

    “Kailash Ji and I are at the Hon’ble HM Shri Amit Shah Ji’s residence with former TMC leaders,” Roy tweeted welcoming the new entrants into the saffron party.

    The TMC, which has been facing dissent from a number of leaders ahead of the assembly election due in April-May, said that those who are leaving do not have a long political history and they will fail to create much impact.

    Earlier on December 19, in the biggest single-day exodus from the TMC, political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, along with 35 party leaders, including five MLAs and an MP, had joined the BJP during Amit Shah’s rally in Medinipur.

    Rajib Banerjee earlier in the day said he had a word with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who called him to the national capital.

    “After I resigned from the TMC, I received a call from the BJP leadership. Amit Shah ji told me to come over to Delhi. He also requested me to pass on the information to five other important public figures who wanted to serve people in a better way to accompany me.”

    “If I get an assurance on the state’s development, if I get an assurance that I can work for the betterment of people, I will join the BJP,” he told reporters at the Kolkata airport.

    When asked what role does he expect to play in the BJP, Banerjee said it is for the party to decide.

    “I want to work for the people. So whatever role is assigned to me, I will accept,” he said.

    Instead of mudslinging at each other, the Centre and the West Bengal government should work together for the people of the state, the suave 47-year-old leader said.

    Actor Rudranil Ghosh, who has recently been voicing his discontent over the issue of governance in Bengal and alleged corruption in the distribution of monetary compensation to Cyclone Amphan-affected people last year, said he wants to work for people and play an important role in the state in future.

    Uttarpara MLA Prabir Ghosal recently alleged that repair of a road in his constituency was not being allowed by a faction of the party to harm his poll prospects.

    According to BJP sources, these TMC leaders were supposed to join the saffron party during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally at Dumurjula in Howrah on Sunday.

    However, Shah’s two-day visit to West Bengal was cancelled at the last minute.

    The ruling TMC in West Bengal was rocked by a fresh bout of desertions on Friday with Banerjee quitting the party and several other leaders rallying behind him.

    Reacting to the development, senior TMC MP and party spokesperson Sougata Ray said, “Those who left don’t have a long political history and most of them were inducted into the party by Mamata Banerjee. In future, the TMC will be careful.”

    Another senior TMC leader and minister Subrata Mukherjee said, “What can we do if anyone wants to go? Ours is a big party. We cannot prevent dissenters by deploying military. But they will fail to create much impact.”

    TMC minister Jyotipriyo Mallick said that it has to be seen how these leaders fare in the polls if they decide to contest.

    “We are none without Mamata Banerjee. We had been contesting elections in her name,” he said.

    Veteran CPI(M) leader and West Bengal Left Front chairman Biman Bose claimed that there is little difference between the TMC and the BJP and both lack ethics.