Bengal by-polls: BJP fields Priyanka Tibrewal against Mamata Banerjee

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded its Bengal youth wing vice-president Priyanka Tibrewal to take on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur assembly constituency in south Kolkata.

The bye-election will be held on September 30 and the counting will be done on October 3. Mamata has to win this election to retain her CM’s post. Besides Bengal, by-elections will also be held in Odisha.

Tibrewal was one of the six candidates shortlisted by the Bengal BJP unit. Her name was finalised by the party’s central office in Delhi.

Despite standing up against a tough candidate in the form of Mamata Banerjee, the BJP says it is prepared to give the TMC chief a “tough fight”.

Priyanka Tibrewal told India Today, “I have defeated the chief minister in the high court in the first fight…The way we have seen people being killed in West Bengal, the murders, rapes, vandalism…But the chief minister has been silent. Our fight is against that silence.”

Trinamool registered an astounding win in the recently held assembly polls by bagging 213 of the 292 seats. However, party supremo Mamata Banerjee lost to former Trinamool leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram.

Who is Priyanka Tibrewal?

The practicing lawyer is a petitioner in the post-poll violence cases being heard at the Calcutta high court. It was because of the untiring efforts of 41-year-old Tibrewal that the HC called for a CBI probe in the matter.

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Priyanka Tibrewal studied law at the University of Calcutta and also holds an MBA from Assumption University, Thailand.

Priyanka joined the BJP in 2014 and, at present, is vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. She was introduced to the BJP by MP Babul Supriyo.

Priyanka Tibrewal lost the Entally seat in the recent assembly elections to TMC’s Swarna Kamal Saha.

Meanwhile, Banerjee is going filed her nomination on Friday afternoon (September 10).

Bhabanipur was earlier a Congress stronghold. It later became a stronghold of the Trinamool Congress because Mamata Banerjee hails from Kalighat, which lies in the Bhabanipur constituency. Mamata has won this seat twice in 2011 and 2016.