The BJP on Tuesday pitted a lesser-known local politician against Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is eyeing a straight third term in Parliament.
After a long wait, the BJP finally announced the name of Abhijit Das, the former party president of Diamond Harbour who had unsuccessfully contested two Lok Sabha polls, including one against Abhishek in 2014, as the party candidate for one of Bengal’s closely watched seats.
Das, 54, a legal adviser by profession, said he would defeat Abhishek if the polls were conducted fairly.
“The situation in 2009 and 2014 (when he unsuccessfully contested) was different from what it is today. I am confident of defeating Abhishek Banerjee,” he said.
The selection of Das, 44 days after the BJP released its first list of candidates on March 2, prompted a section of party insiders to raise questions about the justification of consuming so much time to announce the name considering he was not new in the party circuit. They also questioned the party’s seriousness about winning the seat considering Das has been fielded against TMC’s number 2.
“If Abhijit Das aka Bobby was the choice, then there was no reason for such an inordinate delay in announcing his name as it allowed the TMC to mock the party’s organisational strength,” said a BJP leader.
Senior TMC leaders, including Abhishek, have repeatedly criticised the BJP for its failure to find candidates in at least four Bengal seats, including Diamond Harbour, citing poor organisational skills of the saffron party in Bengal.
Abhishek had even made a sarcastic remark against the BJP, asking it to field the directors of central agencies such as ED, CBI, NIA and income tax to contest from the Diamond Harbour seat and other constituencies where the party had failed to find a befitting face against the TMC nominees.
“The BJP has not been able to find a candidate for Diamond Harbour. Let them field the ED or the CBI director to contest the elections,” Abhishek told a political rally at Kulpi in South 24-Parganas on March 30.
Among the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, Diamond Harbour emerged as the most hyped constituency since November last year when Bhangar MLA and chairman of Indian Secular Front (ISF) Nawsad Siddique expressed his desire to contest from there as a candidate of the Left-Congress-ISF alliance.
A section of BJP leaders in private had expressed their happiness with Siddique’s announcement to contest from the Diamond Harbour seat as he could have played a pivotal role in slashing the minority votes of the ruling TMC.
However, earlier this month, Siddique stepped back and his party fielded Maznu Laskar, a little-known face, against Abhishek, slamming the doors on the Left and the Congress which wanted the ISF MLA to join hands with them to put up a strong fight against the TMC and the BJP. After the ISF decided to go solo, the CPM fielded its young face Pratikur Rahaman against Abhishek.
After the BJP announced its Diamond Harbour candidate on Tuesday, TMC leaders mounted a sharp attack against the BJP over the party’s choice.
“Why didn’t the BJP field Suvendu Adhikari or the CPM name Md. Salim against Abhishek? They are the ones who repeatedly criticise Abhishek. They even tried to pitch Nawsad Siddique but failed. Those who consider themselves heavyweights must have shown courage to contest from Diamond Harbour,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. The BJP, however, defended its choice of candidate.
“Das is a victim of Trinamool’s atrocities and the candidate has a very good academic career. He is enough to deal a mighty blow to the TMC in Diamond Harbour,” said BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya.