 "Rekha Patra (L) and Abhijit Ganguly (R). ANI/PTI.")
Political events are taking new and bigger turns in India with less than a month left for the much-awaited Lok Sabha 2024 elections. Key parties in the contest are wisely and strategically choosing candidates and fielding them with hope of winning from the seat.
Amid this, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced names of 19 candidates who will be contesting on party’s ticket from West Bengal in General Elections 2024.
The BJP’s West Bengal candidate list contained surprises over predictions as the party has fielded former justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who recently resigned as a Calcutta High Court judge; and Sandeshkali ‘victim’ Rekha Patra.
Lok Sabha 2024 polls: Big names in BJP’s West Bengal candidate list
1 - Rekha Patra
The party has named Rekha Patra, an alleged victim of violence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali from Basirhat.
Patra will be contesting against Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Nurul Islam, whom the party supremo and Chief Minister of the state Mamata Banerjee has fielded, dropping the sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.
“I want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the candidature. I will raise my voice for the Sandeshkhali victims,” Rekha Patra was quoted as saying by ANI after her candidature from Basirhat.
Now, who is Rekha Patra, BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat?
Patra is among the most vocal Sandeshkhali protestors. It was based on her complaint that the West Bengal police arrested Shibu Hazra, a local muscleman and TMC leader Sheikh Shajahan’s associate.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPatra is an alleged victim of torture at the hands of arrested TMC strongman from Sandeshkhali - Shajahan Sheikh.
She is also believed to have been part of the group that met PM Modi on the sidelines of his public meeting in Barasat on March 6 and related the plight of Sandeshkhali women to the Prime Minister.
Why BJP has chosen Rekha Patra as LS candidate from West Bengal’s Basirhat?
By choosing Patra, a housewife from the troubled region of Sandeshkhali, as its candidates, BJP has perhaps made strongest political statement.
BJP’s national convener of the IT cell, Amit Malviya, has described Patra’s nomination as a “strong statement" from the party.
“The BJP has fielded Rekha Patra from Basirhat in Bengal. She is one of the victims of Sandeshkhali, who suffered at the hands of Sheikh Shahjahan. Let Mamata Banerjee wipe the tears of women like her, who are suffering in silence, and are subject to her apathy, before she asks for their vote. Strong statement that @BJP4Bengal stands with the women of Sandeshkhali and Bengal,” Malviya said in a post on X.
2 - Abhijit Gangopadhyay
The BJP has decided to field Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former judge of Calcutta High Court from the Tamluk seat, which is a stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, the current Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, and his family.
Let’s know more about who is Abhijit Gangopadhyay?
On March 4, Abhijit Ganguly had announced his decision to resign from his post of judge in Calcutta High Court to make his political plunge and join BJP. He resigned ahead of his retirement later this year.
Since 2022, Justice Gangopadhyay posited himself as a crusader against corruption. He is known for his swift judgments in corruption cases, had won both praise and criticism during his tenure as a judge.
In April 2023, Gangopadhyay sparked a major controversy by giving an interview to a TV channel when he was hearing a case related to the ‘school jobs for cash scam’. He spoke on the alleged role of TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the matter.
The Supreme Court while taking strong objection, had said “sitting judges had no business giving interviews to TV channels”.
As a High Court judge, Gangopadhyay has issued several directives instructing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe allegations of irregularities in the recruitment processes of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools.
3 - Dilip Ghosh
Dilip Ghosh, who was the BJP’s state president from December 2015 to October 2021, will be contesting for BJP from Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat, which was earlier represented by Surendra Singh Ahluwalia.
Ghosh is presently MP from Medinipur constituency. He is known for his straightforward remarks and has often earned both praise and criticism within the party and in social life.
He is often credited for the rise of the BJP in the state during his tenure as the state BJP chief.
It was during Ghosh’s tenure as the party president of the state when BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and 77 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2021.
4 - Agnimitra Paul
A renowned fashion designer-tuned-politician, Agnimitra Paul, who is currently MLA from Asansol South and BJP state general secretary, will be contesting for the party from Lok Sabha seat.
Paul, widely recognised as one of the most outspoken BJP leaders, joined the party in 2019 and swiftly became actively involved in protests and campaigns against the ruling TMC following the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
She previously served as the president of the West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha.
5 - Tapas Roy
Four-time MLA and a loyalist of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Tapas Roy will now be contesting on BJP’s ticket in the Lok Sabha polls 2024 from Kolkata North seat.
Earlier this month, Roy switched allegiance to the BJP from TMC. He resigned from all his party positions as well as the Assembly, giving a major blow to West Bengal’s governing party in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls.
He had switched from TMC to BJP due to disagreements over the re-nomination of Sudip Bandopadhyay, the party’s five-term MP from the constituency.
He served as the deputy chief whip of the West Bengal Assembly but resigned from his position before joining the BJP.
As a seasoned politician with deep knowledge of North Kolkata, Roy faces a challenging task in contesting from a constituency with a diverse population, including a significant minority community comprising 30 per cent of the electorate.
The TMC has held the seat for three consecutive terms and secured nearly half of the total votes cast in 2019.
6 - Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh, known as a ‘strongman’ in the political circle of North 24 Parganas, will be contesting for BJP from Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming elections.
He had won the seat on a BJP ticket in 2019 after being denied an MP ticket from the TMC.
After winning the seat by a margin of 14,000 votes, he returned to TMC in 2022 but did not resign as an MP. He went back to BJP this month after being denied the ticket from the Barrackpore seat, known as his pocket borough.
There are 42 Lok Sabha seats in the West Bengal. The BJP had, on March 2, announced the name of candidates for 20 seats for the Lok Sabha polls 2024.
With inputs from PTI