West Bengal Assembly polls: Deepa Das Munshi vs Mamata Banerjee in Bhowanipore

It is going to be “Bhabhi” versus “Didi” in Bhowanipore, the high-profile Assembly constituency in West Bengal. This is because the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress has fielded former Union minister Deepa Das Munshi against chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee from there.

It will be interesting to see whether the Left Front too fields a candidate against them or backs Ms Das Munshi.

The West Bengal Assembly polls have become interesting as it is turning into a Trinamul Congress versus Left-Congress and BJP battle. While the Left is keen on its revival with the help of the Congress, the saffron party is optimistic of opening its account in multi- cornered fights.

Ms Das Munshi’s name figures in the second list of 42 Congress candidates announced by the AICC here on Friday, taking the total candidates declared by the party to 85.

AICC leaders have indicated that it will not contest more than 100 seats in the 294-member House, thereby leaving the rest to the Left parties with which it has struck a strategic alliance.

Ms Das Munshi had lost the Lok Sabha polls narrowly from her husband Priya Ranjan Das Munshi’s pocket borough of Raiganj by a narrow margin of 1,600 votes to Mohammed Salim of the CPI(M). In those polls, Ms Banerjee had fielded Satya Ranjan Das Munshi, Deepa’s brother-in-law, against her as the Trinamul candidate.

Among the prominent candidates are senior leader Sankar Singh, who is the party nominee from Ranaghat Uttar Paschim, and Arunava Ghosh from Bidhannagar.

The Congress has renominated almost all its sitting MLAs.

In the last Assembly elections, the Congress had contested 61 seats in alliance with the Trinamul Congress, which led to ouster of the CPI(M)-led Left Front after over 33 years in power.

Ms Banerjee has been sharply critical of the strategic alliance between the Congress and the Left.