West Bengal: Final push as campaigning ends

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee participates in an election rally from Jadavpur to Gariahat in Kolkata with other ministers on Thursday, the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase of the West Bengal Assembly election. (Photo: Abhijit Mukherjee)

In a final push to woo voters, candidates of all political parties mounted impressive roadshows in various Assembly constituencies of Kolkata on the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase of the polls.

All eyes, of course, were on the mega rally which chief minister Mamata Banerjee led from Sukanta Setu to Gariahat. However, there were other attractive roadshows also. The Left Front, for instance, took out a big padayatra from Bondel Gate where mayor of Siliguri Ashok Bhattacharya and veteran Congress leader Somen Mitra were seen together. Mr Mitra complimented Mr Bhattacharya for taking the initiative to bring all opposition on one platform in Siliguri. “Today Siliguri model is being emulated in entire Bengal,” Mr Mitra said. Mr Bhattaccharya said the credit should be given to the people of Siliguri. “It is again the people of Bengal who have brought the Left and Congress together to throw out the undemocratic and corrupt TMC government,” Mr Bhattacharya added.

From Naktala in Tollygunge, veteran CPI(M) leader Shyamal Chakraborty and Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee rode in an open jeep, seeking votes for their party candidates. In Kasba constituency, outgoing fire services minister and Trinamul Congress candidate Javed Ahmed Khan, accompanied by a small group of supporters, hit the streets distributing leaflets. He also distributed chocolates among schoolchildren in the area.

In Kasba, Ballygunge and Bhowanipore, actor and BJP leader Roopa Ganguly participated in roadshows for her party candidates. In the chief minister’s Bhowanipore constituency, Ms Ganguly sought vote for Chandra Bose in Gopalnagar area where two years ago she was attacked allegedly by TMC supporters when she had gone to campaign. Ridiculing Ms Banerjee’s austere lifestyle, Ms Ganguly said: “One does not become the symbol of honesty only by donning a white sari and a pair of chappals.”

Harish Chatterjee Street was witness to some tense moments when Congress-Left coalition candidate in Bhowanipore Deepa Das Munshi’s supporters came face to face with a TMC roadshow. Ms Banerjee herself was not present. Supporters of the rival camps shouted slogans and left avoiding a confrontation.

In Ekbalpore-Kidderpore area, young Congress minister Sachin Pilot and former Indian cricket captain-turned-Congress leader Mohammad Azharuddin campaigned for both Ms Das Munshi and Rakesh Singh, who is the party candidate for Kolkata Port constituency. Heavyweight Trinamul Congress candidate in Port Firhad Hakim also concluded his campaign in Hastings and Watgunge areas.