October 3 target for Didi supporters: record margin : TMC joyous over Bhowanipore bypoll

 A poster in Bhowanipore on Sunday.: Gautam Bose

DEBRAJ MITRA | TT  |  06.09.21:  The bypoll in Bhowanipore in south Kolkata will be held on September 30 but chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s foot soldiers are more bothered about October 3, when the results will be announced.

Victory for Mamata is a foregone conclusion, if the rank and file of Trinamul are to be believed. The only uncertainty, they think, is the margin.

“We are not thinking about September 30. Our target is the biggest margin possible. The BJP is nowhere to be seen. Whoever stands against Didi will have his or her deposit forfeited,” said Susanta Dey, the vice-president of the Trinamul youth wing’s south Kolkata unit.

Rajib Banerjee, who was then with Trinamul, won the Domjur Assembly seat by 1.7 lakh votes in 2016, the biggest margin in Bengal Assembly polls till date.

Since the date of the bypoll was announced on Saturday, Dey has been leading a group of party workers in painting walls and putting up posters and banners. 

“Unnayan ghore ghore, ghorer meye Bhowanipore-e (Development in every home, our own daughter in Bhowanipore),” read one poster. 

“Banglar unnayan-er kandari Mamata Banerjee ke bipul vote-e joyee korun (Give a big mandate to the architect of Bengal’s development, Mamata Banerjee),” read another.

In sharp contrast with Trinamul’s upbeat mood, BJP flags and posters are barely visible in Bhowanipore. The BJP is yet to finalise a candidate against Mamata.

“Yahaan pe koi bhi ladhe, jitegi to Didi hi (Whoever stands here, Mamata is going to win,)” said a middle-aged trader at Jadubabur Bazar.

The declaration of the bypoll dates by the Election Commission has ended the uncertainty surrounding the Trinamul chief’s continuation as the chief minister beyond November 5.

Despite steering her party to a landslide victory in the Assembly polls, Mamata lost in Nandigram to the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. She has to win an Assembly seat within six months of her swearing-in as chief minister.

Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay had won from Bhowanipore in the Assembly polls, defeating the BJP’s Rudranil Ghosh by over 28,000 votes. Chattopadhyay later vacated the seat.

“We are confident of winning all seven wards this time,” said a local Trinamul leader. In the just concluded Assembly polls, Trinamul led from five of the seven wards.

“After a humiliating defeat, it is extremely tough for any party to find its feet in any seat. If the seat is Bhowanipore, the opposition should feel successful if it can do three things — put up a candidate, get going with the campaign and ensure that the poll deposit is not forfeited,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.