End of West Bengal polls: They broke enough sweat, now ready with the break

Trinamool Congress’ secretary general Partha Chatterjee, having campaigned largely in the scorching heat, is currently “avoiding the sun”. “Now, I go to my constituency a little later in the evening and meet some friends I couldn’t because of the campaign,” he said. The leader is also back to exercising and stretching his resistance to oily food. “I am a weighty person and so it won’t show if I lose 5 kg. I was avoiding oily food and intend to continue avoiding it until I give in to the temptation again,” he added.

His colleague Subrata Mukherjee said he had taken a two-day break after the last day of campaigning and is now “back in action”. “I am meeting people in the morning as usual and going to the party office regularly again,” he said. Mukherjee said he doesn’t have time for de-tanning sessions at the moment. “I tried it once but it took about three-and-a-half hours. I believe the tan will go with time.”

CPM MP Md Salim said he could not take a holiday as he had to be in Delhi for the Lok Sabha session soon after the campaign ended. An avid speaker, Salim said his throat would probably get some rest now. “I used to deliver two to three speeches every day and all of them lasting at least half-an-hour. That has stopped for the time being,” he said. Giving an insight into his preparations for the speeches, Salim said he stopped taking a spoonful of honey every morning and replaced it with a glass of bitter gourd and neem juice.

For Congress’ state president Adhir Chowdhury, the elections may have gotten over, life for him was still “regular”. “Election is occasional but politics is perpetual. There is no extensive travelling but I have started going to my constituency to meet people as usual. Today I visited four families in Murshidabad whose members had left Bengal in search for jobs but died in an accident,” he said, adding that de-tanning sessions “are for film stars, not me”.

Another Congress candidate and Senior lawyer Arunava Ghosh and a candidate for Congress said other than returning to practicing law full-time, he is now reading the holy Quran. “I am back to my reading days, right now I am going through the Quran. The inscription has been highly misinterpreted. I feel well-informed about Islam as I read the book,” he said.

BJP’s erstwhile state president Rahul Sinha, famous for his impeccable and “natural” hairstyle, said although there is no extensive travelling at the moment, unlike other candidates who can take a breather, we have to look after the party and organisational work,” he said.

Actor-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee, who is BJP’s candidate from Mayureswar in Birbhum, said she had been “neglecting” her family and her profession for quite some time but would now be paying “a little more attention”. “I earn a living through films which took a back seat (upon joining politics). My son sat for his secondary exams and his results are out today. I haven’t been able to focus on him for the past three months while he was preparing for his test. Now I will try and streamline his tuition and studies. My mother too has been ailing for some time and I intend to pay some attention towards her,” she said.