New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The high-voltage battleground of Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in April election comes as a reminder of the 2016 clash in the same seat that also was much hyped as allegations flew, churning the political waters of West Bengal.
Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had then faced challenges from Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunshi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Chandra Kumar Bose.
The latter, grandnephew of Subhas Chandra Bose, joined the BJP in 2016. He was later appointed Vice President of the party’s state unit and even went on to feature as a potential Chief Ministerial face.
However, he has since cut his ties with the BJP since September 2023. His grandfather was Subhas Bose’s elder brother, Sarat Chandra Bose — a barrister and freedom activist — who played a pivotal role in the escape of Netaji in 1941.
Amiya Nath Bose, a member of the fourth Lok Sabha (1967-1971), then representing the Left Front constituent Forward Bloc from West Bengal’s Arambagh constituency, was Chandra’s father.
In the 2016 election, the Bose scion ended third, garnering less than 20 per cent of the total votes cast.
And, contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election, again on a BJP ticket, he lost to Trinamool Congress’ Mala Roy by more than 1.5 lakh votes from Kolkata Dakshin seat.
Incidentally, Bhabanipur is among the seven Assembly constituencies that comprise Kolkata Dakshin Parliamentary seat.
Meanwhile, in the 2016 Assembly election, Deepa Dasmunshi finished behind Mamata Banerjee at Bhabanipur, with 40,219 votes and close to 30 per cent vote share.
She earlier represented the Raiganj seat in Lok Sabha, winning in 2009; but subsequently lost it in 2014 to the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Mohammed Salim.
In 2019, when the BJP snatched the constituency from the Left, Salim finished third after the Trinamool candidate, while Deepa followed in the fourth spot.
She never contested from Raiganj again.
Her husband and former Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi represented Raiganj in 1999, retaining it in 2004.
Following a massive stroke in 2008, he remained in coma for a long time, passing away in 2017.
Earlier, when the Left Front government collapsed in 2011, Mamata Banerjee had chosen her path to the Chief Minister’s chair through Bhabanipur.
Trinamool leader Subrata Bakshi vacated it in her favour soon after winning with a margin of nearly 50,000 votes and close to 65 per cent share of the mandate.
In the by-election, Mamata Banerjee increased the lead to more than 54,000 votes and collected a massive 77.5 per cent vote share.
The Trinamool Congress overall had then cornered 184 of the 226 seats contested while the then ally Congress won 42 seats of the 66 they had nominated candidates in.
Among the Opposition, the CPI-M secured 40, while major Left Front allies like the CPI won two, Forward Bloc 11 and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) seven.
The BJP then failed to send any candidate to the state Assembly.
In 2016, when the Trinamool Congress contested on its own, the party won 211 seats, while the BJP could manage three.
The principal Opposition bloc in the state Assembly then was the Congress-Left combine.
In 2021, Mamata again contested a by-election at Bhabanipur after losing to former aide and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram.
Trinamool leader Sovandeb Chatterjee had then made way, who had won by nearly 29,000 votes and about 58 per cent share of the total votes.
Mamata Banerjee again triumphed in her “Para” (neighbourhood), winning by a convincing margin of about 59,000 votes and close to 72 per cent vote share.
The Trinamool Congress, by then recognised as a national party by the Election Commission, won 215 seats while the BJP evolved as the state’s principal opposition party with 77.
Once again, Bhabanipur is set to witness another clash, which this time is likely to hold higher political stakes for the titans — Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari.
–IANS
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