The poll battle at Bishnupur (SC), once a Red bastion in Bankura District of West Bengal will be an interesting watch this time, not merely for political reasons.
The BJP this time has re-nominated its sitting MP from the constituency Saumitra Khan.
On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress has fielded Saumitra Khan’s estranged wife Sujata Mondal Khan.
Also in the fray is the CPI(M)’s Shital Kaibarta, a veteran Marxist in Bankura District, who had till recently been concentrating on the party’s networking activities rather than being engaged in electoral politics.
The political circles in West Bengal were shocked after Sujata Mondal Khan, who had played the most active role in campaigning for her husband in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, joined the Trinamool Congress just a few days before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
On the same day, Saumitra Khan, at an emotional press conference, announced his decision to sever matrimonial ties with her and also issued an appeal to her not to use the surname ‘Khan’ anymore.
Now, since the beginning of her poll campaign Sujata Mondal Khan has been resorting to a potent mix of both “political” attacks against the BJP as well as “personal” attacks against her competitor.
At times she makes subtle allegations of alleged domestic brutalities and at times she refers to how she took the entire responsibility of campaigning on behalf of her husband in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when he was barred from entering areas under the jurisdiction of the Bishnupur constituency then.
However, till date, Saumitra Khan has refrained from similar personal attacks and is just seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
BJP insiders said that Khan has been strictly instructed by the state leadership to refrain from making counter-personal attacks on his estranged wife.
On his part, the CPI(M) candidate is concentrating on local issues and claimed that the people of Bishnupur, bogged down with their own problems, are not interested in the tiffs between the estranged couple.
Bishnupur has been a traditional Red bastion since 1971, gifting CPI(M) with victories for 11-consecutive terms from 1971 to 2009.
Even in the midst of the Trinamool Congress wave in 2009, the CPI(M) candidate Susmita Bauri got elected from the constituency with a comfortable margin of over one lakh votes.
However, the pattern changed in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the sitting BJP Lok Sabha member Saumitra Khan, got elected from there as the-then Trinamool Congress candidate.
Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls he joined the BJP and got elected again.
The constituency is popular globally as a handicrafts hub of West Bengal and has over 14 lakh voters. Besides handicrafts, a large portion of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
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