Divorced couple to contest each other in West Bengal
AMIT RAI
KOLKATA: With Trinamool Congress (TMC) announcing its list of 42 candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections on Sunday, West Bengal’s Bishnupur seat is all set to witness a battle between BJP Ex-Husband vs TMC Ex-Wife . The Contest Between Former Couple. TMC’s Sujata Mandal will be contesting the against her ex-husband Saumitra Khan, a BJP candidate for the Bishnupur’s Lok Sabha seat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded Saumitra Khan from the seat last month when it unveiled its list for the Lok Sabha election. Sujata Mondal and Saumitra Khan separated in 2021 during the West Bengal’s assembly elections, when Khan announced the split on record after Sujata’s decision to enter politics as a leader of the Triamool Congress.
“I would request her to stop using the surname ‘Khan’. I am severing all relations with Sujata today. I am sending her a divorce notice. I also request the media to not label her as a ‘Khan’,” Saumitra had said while announcing the split.However, it must be noted that Saumitra himself was a TMC leader until 2019, when he defatted to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Back then, his wife had pushed for him.
Mamata Banerjee’s revealed its Lok Sabha candidate list on Sunday afternoon amid a massive public rally at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade grounds. The party named 42 candidates, including former cricketer Yusuf Pathan. The party fielded Mahua Moitra, who has recently been involved in scandal, from Krishnanagar. Mahua Moitra, who was ejected from the Lok Sabha in a bribe-for-question fraud, will run for the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency, which she represented in 2019.
Mamata Banerjee’s party retained 16 of the state’s 23 current MPs, despite withdrawing some candidates, including Nusrat Jahan and BJP defector Arjun Singh. The TMC announced candidates for all Bengal seats, leaving no opportunity for the I.N.D.I.A-ally Congress. Nine Bengal MLAs have been nominated for the Lok Sabha elections, including BJP defectors Biswajit Das and Mukutmani Adhikari, who will run in Bongaon and Ranaghat, Matua strongholds that the TMC lost to the BJP in 2019.
Mr Khan, a senior leader from Bishnupur, had crossed over to the BJP from Trinamool ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. His wife had campaigned for him at the time.However, just before the West Bengal Assembly election in 2021, their relationship soured and Sujata Mondal joined the TMC. A day later, Khan sent her the divorce papers to end their 10-year marriage. A furious Khan had hurriedly called a press conference where he announced his decision to “severe the 10-year relationship”. “You (Sujata) have come this far as you had chanted Jai Shree Ram, chanted in favour of (Narendra) Modiji, as you were the wife of Saumitra Khan,” a livid Khan had said.
“Please refrain from using the ‘Khan’ surname hereafter, please don’t refer to yourself as Saumitra Khan’s wife. I am giving you all the freedom to chart your political destiny. But please don’t forget you are siding with those who had attacked your parents’ residence in 2019 after I joined the BJP,” Khan had said It has hugely upset the Congress, which was hoping for a rapprochement despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s declaration that she would reconsider ties with the Opposition bloc India only after seeing the election results.
“The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter).
Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat against Trinamool’s arch-rival, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Mr Chowdhury, who won the seat five times, said no political party should trust Ms Banerjee According to experts-“Mamata Banerjee is in fear that if she continues to be in the INDIA alliance, PM Modi will be unhappy,” he added, underscoring his frequent opinion that the Trinamool Congress is the “B Team” of the BJP.( Bureau Report with Media Inputs).
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