BJP strikes the corruption gong at TMC’s Kolkata bastions, CPM puts faith in mix of old and new

As the bitterly fought Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, stretched over seven phases, finally draw to a close on June 1, the contest will end fittingly with state capital Kolkata. Four of the nine constituencies which vote on Saturday fall within its geographical boundaries – Jadavpur, Dum Dum, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar – all held by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The TMC has repeated three of its sitting MPs, only replacing actor-turned-politician Mimi Chakraborty (who announced her retirement from politics) in Jadavpur, with another actor, Sayoni Ghosh.

The TMC has been winning these four seats since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections – two years before it swept to power for the first time in Bengal – and is banking again on the Mamata Banerjee government’s welfare schemes, particularly Lakshmir Bhandar.

The BJP campaign has revolved around allegations of corruption and minority appeasement against the Mamata Banerjee government, and comparing the same to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “guarantees”.

The CPI(M), which holds no Lok Sabha or Assembly seat in West Bengal, is hopeful of changing that, with some signs of a revival and its decision to promote young faces catching attention.

All the three main contenders in this seat – sitting TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the BJP’s Tapash Roy, and the Congress’s Pradip Bhattacharya – started their political careers in the Congress.

Bandyopadhyay, 75, followed Mamata Banerjee out of the Congress three years after she formed the TMC in 2001, and has been winning Kolkata Uttar seat, which has 14.4 lakh voters, since 2009. Roy left the Congress to join the TMC during the 2008-09 Singur-Nandigram land agitation led by Mamata that propelled her to power. A month ago, he jumped to