lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 12, 2019 11:22 IST

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee might spring a few surprises while announcing her list of candidates for the Lok Sabha election 2019 on Tuesday.

Keeping in mind Mamata Banerjee’s oft-repeated resolve that her party will win all the 42 parliamentary seats in West Bengal this year, senior leaders considered close to her say while she may field new candidates in most of the seats, some of the sitting members of Parliament might be asked to contest from elsewhere.

The West Bengal chief minister’s cousin and heir Abhishek Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP, may contest elsewhere, according to speculation inside the Trinamool’s headquarters.

In 2014, Mamata Banerjee broke away from tradition and introduced a few popular film stars from present and yesteryears - Dipak Adhikary (Dev) from Ghatal, Sandhya Roy from Midnapore and Moon Moon Sen from Bankura.

Her gamble paid off because of the Trinamool’s surging popularity. The picture has changed since then and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made inroads in many districts of the eastern state.

This time around, senior Trinamool leaders are saying privately that both Roy and Sen might be replaced by seasoned leaders because the BJP has risen sharply in Bankura and Midnapore.

Dev was unwilling to contest in 2014, saying his career, which was at its peak, would suffer, but he was convinced by a Trinamool minister and some influential people in Tollywood, the state’s movie hub in Kolkata’s Tollygunge area. However, because of Dev’s popularity and his clean image he may be fielded again, Trinamool leaders say.

Speculations are rife that Banerjee may not nominate retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Chowdhury Mohan Jatua from Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district for the third time mainly because the 80-year-old MP has not been keeping well.

Read: ‘Smile Didi, you are in a democracy’: Poster barbs welcome Mamata Banerjee to Delhi

Banerjee summoned Arambagh MP Aparupa Poddar and Jhargram MP Uma Soren to the state secretariat last week, giving rise to speculations that both would be dropped from the list.

Poddar was purportedly seen accepting money in the Narada sting videos that hit the state ahead of the 2016 assembly polls but it is her absence in vast parts of the constituency that has not gone down well with the party, a senior Trinamool leader said on condition of anonymity.

Tapas Pal, the chit fund scam-tainted MP from Krishnagar, and Howrah MP and former ace soccer player Prasun Banerjee may also be replaced with new faces. Although Banerjee, too, was purportedly seen in the Narada sting tapes, it is the fast rise of the BJP in Howrah, coupled with a communal tension that rocked the district in 2017, that may prompt the Trinamool chief to field a seasoned politician, leaders close to her say.

Two lawmakers from the Trinamool, Anupam Hazra from Bolpur and Soumitra Khan from Bishnupur, have already joined the BJP. So, these two crucial seats will definitely see new faces.

Virtually turning International Women’s Day into a platform for the election campaign, Banerjee said last Friday that 35% of her party’s Lok Sabha MPs are women and the trend will continue. This has enthused women leaders aspiring to hit the campaign trail.