New lieutenant versus old

Calcutta North West 8212; Bengal8217;s smallest constituency 8212; has been the biggest draw these elections. Because it8217;s here that...

Calcutta North West 8212; Bengal8217;s smallest constituency 8212; has been the biggest draw these elections. Because it8217;s here that Kolkata Mayor Subrata Mukherjee is fighting two battles against former colleague and now discarded Sudip Bandopadhyay 8212; his own and Nationalist Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee8217;s.

Also, Calcutta North West is the newest milestone for the Mayor, who has so many feathers in his cap that one tends to lose track. Mayor Mukherjee is a councillor of a Kolkata municipal ward, he is a sitting MLA from Chowringhee Assembly seat, he is the state president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress the trade union wing of the Congress despite being a Trinamool Congress MLA.

And evidently, he is didi8217;s most trusted lieutenant, at least at the moment. He is rated the most 8216;8216;shrewd and mature8217;8217; among the opposition Congress and Trinamool leaders in the state. But he has never tested the Lok Sabha ground and in that sense, he is a debutant in this contest.

All that, of course, is besides the point. One of the major stakes that the Trinamool chief has in this poll is to settle her scores with Sudip Bandopadhyay. Mamata Banerjee first denied a ticket to her sitting MP in this constituency, Bandopadhyay, and then put her best bet and her 8216;8216;political guru8217;8217; in this poll to clinch it. Bandopadhyay8217;s crime 8212; he was 8216;8216;hobnobbing8217;8217; with the BJP8217;s central leadership at a time when Mamata Banerjee was distancing herself from them.

There could not have been a better candidate to execute Mamata Banerjee8217;s decision to seal Bandopadhyay8217;s political future. The Kolkata Mayor has been the Trinamool Congress8217; only success story in the party8217;s otherwise dwindling fortunes. Bandopadhyay, unwilling to relent under pressure, decided to stick to the constituency that returned him for the last two terms. He is fighting as a Congress-backed Independent.

8216;8216;Subrata has Mamata, but I have the janta. My fight is symbolic, a fight against injustice,8217;8217; says Bandopadhyay, who is popular in certain pockets he has cultivated as MP. He also reminds voters that Mamata Banerjee8217;s Trinamool Congress was born out of 8216;8216;sympathy8217;8217; for the injustice she faced in the Congress party. 8216;8216;She should know better what sympathy can achieve for one.8217;8217;

And it seems, Bandopadhyay will need all the sympathy for the challenge he faces. The Mayor is not known to leave things to chance. He has launched the most spectacular campaign in this election, having completed road shows in more than 30 municipal wards that fall within the constituency. 8216;8216;You have seen me as the Mayor and I promise to give you more. I promise to serve you better,8217;8217; says Mukherjee as he walks into individual households.

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Aware of his the draw of his opponent8217;s celebrity wife from the celluloid world 8212; Naina Banerjee 8212; Mukherjee had been bringing in famous faces from the state as well as from Mumbai to add glamour to his campaigns. From Chunkey Pandey to Poonam Dhillon, from Shatabdi Roy to Tapas Paul, he has had his slice of Bollywood and Tollywood.

In more private conversations, though, the Mayor speaks his mind: 8216;8216;I have little to lose. If I don8217;t win the election, I remain the Mayor. If I win, I have both to choose from.8217;8217; Either way it is a win-win situation for Subrata Mukherjee.