BJP announces 157 candidates for WB assembly polls, turncoats rewarded
The BJP on Thursdayannounced its list of 157 candidates for the last four phasesof assembly election in West Bengal, rewarding around 22turncoats and fielding party heavyweights Mukul Roy and RahulSinha.
The candidate list also features 17 Muslim faces,including women.
The party is facing protests and resignations asmany of its aspiring old-timers did not find their names inthe list of candidates.
Roys son Subranghshu, a sitting TMC MLA, state BJPMahila Morcha president Agnimitra Paul, Bengali filmpersonalities Rudranil Ghosh, Srabanti Chattopadhyay and ParnoMitra were among those given tickets by the saffron party.
Roy, BJP national vice-president and former unionminister, is back in the electoral fray after a gap of twodecades.
He will contest from the Krishnanagar Uttar seat,which is dominated by the Matua community. He hadunsuccessfully contested election on a TMC ticket in 2001.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition inthe state, has also fielded sports personalities and ascientist for the high stakes battle in the state.
Despite protests over recruits getting more importancethan old-timers in the candidates list, the party gavenominations to 22 turncoats, including several former TMC MLAslike Arindam Bhattacharya who has been fielded in Jagatdal andJitendra Tiwari in Pandaveswar.
However, in some cases, the saffron party has notgiven nominations to turncoats from their home seats to avoiddissent.
The list also has 19 women candidates, which is morethan its previous two lists.
The party continued with its strategy of fieldingpersonalities from different walks of life and sitting MPs.
It named folk artiste Ashim Sarkar from Haringhata assemblyseat and scientist Gobhardhan Das from Purbasthali Uttar.
It has fielded its former state unit chief RahulSinha, who is yet to taste success in any of the elections hehas contested so far, from Habra against the state FoodSupplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.
The BJP has nominated party MP Jagannath Sarkar forthe Santipur seat.
The party has so far announced names of five sittingMPs, including Union minister Babul Supriyo, as its candidatesfor the state election.
Nominations were also given to the wife of formerstate Congress president Somen Mitra and husband of TMC MLAMala Saha. The two are Sikha Mitra and Tarun Saharespectively.
However, in an embarrassment for the party, both SikhaMitra and Tarun Saha refused their tickets and said they arefirmly with their parties – the Congress and the TMC.
“I dont know how my name featured in the candidatelist. I am still with the Congress and will remain so,” Mitratold reporters.
Just like its previous lists, the BJP nominatedseveral film personalities in its third list.
Ghosh, who had recently switched over from the TMC,has been chosen as the candidate for the Bhawanipur seat inKolkata, which used to be Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeesbackyard.
However, just hours after the list was announced, therift in Bengal BJP between the old-timers and the newinductees came out in the open. Several BJP leaders andaspirants voiced their anguish after they were deniednomination. Protests were held in various parts of the stateand some party leaders even quit the party.
BJP state Yuva Morcha leader Sourav Sikdar, the nephewof former BJP leader Tapan Sikdar, resigned from all partyposts after he was denied a ticket. He accused the presentparty leadership of humiliating old-timers.
The nomination of Bhattacharya from Jagtadal andTiwari from Pandaveswar constituencies triggered a wave ofprotests in south Bengal. The local leaders of the party hitthe streets and opposed their nomination.
In north Bengal, nomination to former TMC leader MihirGoswami kicked off protests with BJP activists staging roadblockades.
Protest was reported in Durgapur Purba constituencywhere Diptanshu Chowdhury, who had recently joined BJP, wasgiven the nomination.
Forner chief economic advisor to the government ofIndia, Ashok Lahiri, who was fielded from the Alipurduar seat,was removed following protests. The party now nominated SumanKanjilal for that seat.
The BJP has so far announced candidates for 280 seats.
The TMC mocked the situation of the saffron party.
“Every time BJP announce a list of candidates for#BengalElections2021 you can make an omelette. So much egg ontheir face, senior TMC leader Derek OBrien tweeted.
Election for the 294-seat West Bengal assembly will beheld in eight phases, with the first phase on March 27 and thelast on April 29. The results will be announced on May 2.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)