Trinamul Congress is going all out to defeat BJP in Bhawanipore Assembly seat where party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee is fighting against the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
Adhikari had defeated Miss Banerjee in Nandigram by 1900-odd votes in the 2021 Assembly election.
Miss Banerjee and party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met the party’s rank and file on Sunday evening.
Abhishek Banerjee has given a target of 60,000 votes in favour of Miss Banerjee.
Both Miss Banerjee and Mr Banerjee had addressed the party’s leaders and workers. It was learnt that Mr Banerjee had told the gathering that there is no scope for complacency and overconfidence. Both the leaders and workers will have to work hard for the next one month to ensure the victory of Miss Banerjee by overwhelming majority, said the national general secretary.
After being defeated by Mr Adhikari in 2021, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, the sitting MLA from Bhawanipore resigned allowing Miss Banerjee to contest in the by-election. Miss Banerjee defeated Priyanka Tibriwal by over 50,000 votes in the by-election. Later, she took the oath and became the Chief Minister.
It was decided in Sunday’s meeting that party leaders and workers will go to every household in Bhawanipore and tell people about the projects that have been taken by the state government in the past 15 years. At the same time they will inform people about the financial deprivation the state government faced under the BJP rule.
There are pockets in Bhawanipore where the Trinamul Congress trailed the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Ashim Basu, Trinamul Congress councillor of Ward 70 is very effective. In the past five years he had played a major role in combating waterlogging, which was a formidable problem in some pockets like the areas surrounding Northern Park, Heysham Road, Justice Dwarkanath Mitra Road among others. However, despite his best efforts, a section of the residents of high-rise buildings in Ward 70, who belong to the Gujarati community have distanced themselves from Trinamul Congress, said sources.
Similarly, in Ward 72, Sandip Bakshi has improved the street light arrangements in vast areas in his ward. The waterlogging in Ramesh Mitra Road, Shyamananda Road, Beltala Road, Bakulbagan Row is a matter of the past, but there are pockets in his ward where Trinamul Congress has failed to make any dent.
Bhawanipur constituency was a part of Chowringhee Assembly seat and it was said that even a lamp post from Congress’ ticket could win an Assembly election in the constituency. In 2011, Bhawanipur constituency was set up after delimitation. Subrata Bakshi , state president of Trinamul Congress had won by 87,000 votes.
Trinamul Congress has put up posters Boycott BJP across Bhawanipore. Ashim Basu alleged that the BJP supporters had torn off some posters. A complaint was lodged with Bhawanipore police station on Sunday evening.
Trinamul Congress workers are conducting small rallies and it will be intensified from this weekend. Asked where deletion of around 48,000 voters would affect the poll prospect of Miss Banerjee, a veteran party leader said “This will not affect the poll prospect as it would be wrong to believe that all those whose names had been deleted were voters of Trinamul Congress. Every political party would be affected by the deletion,” he said.
There are pockets in Bhawanipore where people vote for Trinamul en block and the BJP will not be able to make any dent in these areas like Peyarabagan slum.
The party leaders and workers are confident about Miss Banerjee’s victory.