TMC scores come-from-behind win in N Kol after Didi rebuke
Times of India | 5 June 2024
Kolkata: In his sixth Lok Sabha contest, veteran politician and Kolkata North candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay, 75, snatched victory coming from behind for Trinamool in one of the toughest fights and keenly followed contests where he was not only fighting the BJP and Congress but resistances within his party.
But with CM Mamata Banerjee having confidence in five-time MP Bandyopadhyay and holding three roadshows for him, among them one from Shyambazar to Vivekananda’s ancestral home, 24 hours after PM Narendra Modi walked on the same route, managed to bury the hatchet of infighting.
Bandyopadhyay, who has been winning the seat since 2009 was up against MLA-turned-BJP candidate Tapas Roy who quit Trinamool before the polls. In a neck-to-neck fight, Bandyopadhyay won by a margin of over 92,000 votes against Roy, securing 47% of the votes polled.
The infighting within TMC was prompted after the party’s long-time loyalist and four-time MLA Roy defected to BJP ahead of polls over disagreements on Bandyopadhyay’s candidature. The internal fissures within TMC came in the open when KMC ward 49 councillor Monalisa Banerjee openly protested after being sidelined during the campaign by Bandyopadhyay and even held sit-in-demonstrations.
The simmering discontent among party workers over Bandyopadhyay’s candidature might have been reflected in the ballot boxes as the winning margin dropped in comparison to the last polls. “The lead margins in some assembly seats like Chowringhee have decreased considerably,” said a party functionary.
A counting agent at the Netaji Indoor Stadium said the Congress candidate has split the minority votes which has also resulted in lower margin for TMC.
Many felt that the CM’s throwing her weight behind Bandyopadhyay and urging both Kunal Ghosh and Bandyopadhyay to ensure a win here had turned the political contest into a “prestige battle” and had been instrumental in winning the seat.