Ajit Panja campaigning on College Street and Mousumi Chatterjee at the Congress Office. Picture by Pabitra Das

Calcutta, April 5: In the 1960s, she was a winsome child bride on the silver screen. A decade later, she played the local version of Elisa Dolittle of My Fair Lady.

Today, actress Mousumi Chatterjee spoke about her celluloid trip from Balika Bodhu to Ogo Bodhu Sundari in her appeal for ballots.

Bengal’s flirtation with Bollywood began in the crowded Congress office near Moulali where Mousumi addressed a news conference as the party’s candidate for Calcutta Northeast, where she is pitted against Ajit Panja, the sitting MP and former chairperson of the Trinamul Congress.

“Calcutta is my city. It is something like returning to my baaper bari (father’s house)…. I have earned enough and my children are grown ups. I have time now. Please give me a chance to serve you,” she urged voters.

Like a seasoned campaigner, she took on the Left Front. “What have they done in 26 years? Nothing.”

With state Congress vice- president Pradip Bhattacharya by her side, Mousumi also admitted that her stature will not match up to that of Panja’s or CPM candidate Mohammad Selim’s.

“Ajit Panja was not made in a day. It will take a long time for me to become a seasoned politician like him. I can only go to the people with honesty and sincerity. Won’t people give me a chance?” asked Mousumi.

She kicked off her campaign in the evening with two meetings with Congress workers in Sealdah and Manicktala.

“I may not look young any more, but I have the same smile for you, please vote for me, I promise to serve the constituency wholeheartedly, if I win,” she said. She even requested Panja to vote for her, “if possible”.

The veteran leader and former Union minister was into serious campaigning. He walked along College Street and into the lanes and bylanes off it canvassing for votes. Dhaks and bugles in procession, Panja did not fail to make a show of it.

Mousumi refrained from attacking Panja’s party chief Mamata Banerjee. She would only say: “Once, I used to think Mamata was inspiration personified. Now, she does not belong to the Congress any more. I have come to campaign for my party.”