CALCUTTA, 1 May 2004 — City Mayor Subroto Mukherjee paraded Bollywood film stars in the Calcutta (North-West) constituency on Thursday to win over voters in his maiden attempt to enter Parliament.
Accompanied by actors Poonam Dhillon and Chunky Pandey, Mukherjee marched through the lanes and by-ways of the congested business district of Burrabazar holding aloft a Trinamul Congress flag in the blazing sun.
Significantly, all the three Lok Sabha seats in Calcutta — capital of Marxist-ruled West Bengal — elected Trinamool MPs in 1999. While Mamata Banerjee retained Calcutta (South) by a huge margin, Ajit Panja won the Calcutta (North-East) seat. Both are in the fray and hope to win again.
But Mukherjee’s battleground — Calcutta (North-West) — is a different story altogether. Trinamool’s Sudip Bandopadhyay, who was elected from Calcutta (NW) five years ago, was denied a party nomination this time for hobnobbing with the BJP.
Trinamool fielded Mukherjee instead. But Bandopadhyay is contesting as an independent supported by the Congress party. Significantly, Mukherjee is the rebel MP’s political guru. But he is making the most of the opportunity that has come his way because of his disciple’s indiscretion.
There is a CPI(M) candidate as well — Sudhansu Seal. But besides heavyweight rivals, Bandopadhyay is having to contend with his namesake — Sudip Bandopadhyay — an independent candidate who has reportedly been fielded by the wily Mukherjee to sow confusion among the sitting MP’s prospective voters.
In 1999, Congress polled 160,000 votes, the CPI(M) 112,000 while Bandopadhyay got over 220,000.
Analysts believe that Seal might spring a surprise this time if Bandopadhyay gets all the Congress votes as well as a share of the Trinamool votes. The CPI(M) is working round the clock in the assembly segments of Taltala, Bowbazar and Burrabazar to increase its vote bank.
There is a chance of Calcutta (North-East) changing hands next month. The CPI(M)’s Mohammad Selim is posing a very serious challenge to Panja.
In 1999, Panja defeated Selim by a margin of just 22,000 votes. The Congress candidate had polled 84,000 votes. This time Congress has fielded ex-film star Moushumi Chatterjee.
There are already indications that many traditional Congress voters, particularly Muslims, might switch their allegiance to the CPI(M) in view of Chatterjee’s inexperience. Moreover, Panja’s popularity among die-hard Trinamool supporters has plummeted because he parted ways with Banerjee before coming back to his senses. A section of the committed Trinamool vote bank is apparently determined to teach Panja a lesson for insulting her when she was at her most vulnerable.
Banerjee’s challenger in Kolkata (South), the CPI(M)’s Rabin Deb, knows he has an impossible job on his hands but he is determined to make a mark by narrowing the margin between Trinamool and the Marxists to a tolerable level.
Last time, Banerjee won by a whopping 214,000 votes against a non-descript Marxist rival, Subhankar Charaborty. Compared to Chakraborty, Deb is a superior candidate considering his organizational background and ideological zeal.
Congress’ Nafisa Ali — ex-model and former Miss India — is drawing modest crowds but her prospects are not too bright. Congress polled 51,735 votes last time. It would be a major achievement if Ali can retain the votes.
Mukherjee says that by the time Ali familiarizes herself with the Calcutta (South) seat, Mamata will be in Parliament.
