Assuring the people of West Bengal of vehemently opposing the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday that she won’t let anyone to the detention center.
She also slammed the BJP for the situation in Manipur. Addressing the crowd at Brigade Parade ground, Banerjee asserted, “Before the elections, they (BJP) will promise to implement CAA… After the elections, they (BJP) will take everything from you and try to drive you out of Bengal. But we (TMC) will provide you shelter, we won’t let anyone among you go to the detention center. We (TMC) won’t allow NRC to be implemented.”
Banerjee also criticized the BJP’s handling of the situation in Manipur, stating, “In Bengal, people continue to arrive regardless of the circumstances. What was the BJP’s response when Manipur was burning? How many BJP leaders went there? How many BJP leaders extended assistance to the woman who was paraded naked?”
The West Bengal CM further asserted that her party will contest elections in multiple states in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
“TMC will contest the election against BJP, Congress, and CPM in West Bengal. TMC will fight alone here in Bengal. TMC will also fight in Assam, Uttar Pradesh. For one seat, there has been a discussion with Samajwadi leader Akhilesh Yadav. We will also fight in Meghalaya,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal for the upcoming general elections. The list was announced by the party at Brigade Parade ground on Sunday. The ruling party in Bengal sprung a surprise by fielding former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore constituency. Another former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad will contest from Bardhaman Durgapur.
Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from Diamond Harbour. Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in the Winter session last year has been given a ticket from Krishnanagar constituency.
Meanwhile, Mukut Mani Adhikari who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party has also been given ticket from Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat. Shatrughan Sinha is set to again contest from Asansol, a seat he had won earlier in 2022 bypoll. TMC has fielded Jagadish C Basuniya from Cooch Behar, Prakash Chik Baraik from Alipurduar, Nirmal Ch Roy from Jalpaiguri, Gopal Lama from Darjeeling.
Krishna Kalyani has been fielded from Raiganj whereas Biplab Mitra and Prasun Banerjee will contest from Balurghat and Malda Uttar respectively. The party also announced to field of Shahnawaz Ali Raihan from Malda Dakshin. From Jangipur, Khalilur Rahman has been given the ticket to contest the polls. Abu Taher Khan has also been given ticket from Murshidabad, Biswajit Das from Bongaon and Partha Bhowmick from Barrackpore.
TMC leader Saugata Roy is set to contest from Dum Dum, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat, Haji Nurul Islam from Basirhat, and Pratima Mondal has been given ticket from Joynagar constituency.
From Mathurapur, Bapi Halder will contest whereas Saayoni Ghosh has been fielded from Jadavpur seat. The ruling party also fielded Mala Roy from Kolkata Dakshin, Sudip Bandhopadhyay from Kolkata Uttar and Prasun Banerjee from Howrah.
Meanwhile, Sajda Ahmed will contest from Uluberia, Kalyan Banerjee from Serampore, Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and Mitali Bag from Arambagh seat. TMC further announced that Debangshu Bhattacharya will contest from Tamluk, Uttam Barik from Kanthi , Deepak Adhikari (Dev) from Ghatal, Kalipada Soren from Jhargram and June Malia from Medinipur.
From Purulia, Shantiram Mahato has been fielded whereas Arup Chakrabarty will contest from Bankura. Sujata Mondal from Bishnupur, Dr Sharmila Sarkar from Bardhaman Purba , Asit Kumar Mal from Bolpur and Satabdi Roy from Birbhum have also been given a ticket by TMC.
The Trinamool Congress kicked off the campaign for the upcoming elections through its show of strength. In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats.
The Congress won the remaining two seats. In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.
The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May this year.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
