Back-to-back rallies by Modi, Didi set stage for unique contest

Politics over venue

The Prime Minister is slated to address a public meeting at Shahganj in Hooghly district on February 22 to drum up support for the BJP for the Assembly poll slated to take place in West Bengal within next two months.

Two days later (on February 24), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address a rally at the same venue.

It does not require much political insight to get to the bottom of Mamata’s plan. She wants to ensure the presence of a bigger crowd in her meeting and take the upper hand over Modi.

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 17

The ground at Shahganj in Hooghly district of West Bengal is set to become the venue for a unique contest between Didi and Modi.

The Prime Minister is slated to address a public meeting there on February 22 to drum up support for the BJP for the Assembly poll slated to take place in West Bengal within next two months.

Two days later (on February 24), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address a rally at the same venue to mobilise vote for her party.

It does not require much political insight to get to the bottom of Mamata’s plan. She wants to ensure the presence of a bigger crowd in her meeting and take the upper hand over Modi.

Dilip Yadav, president of the TMC’s Hoogly district unit, however, refused to admit that the meeting at Shahganj had been organised at a short notice by Mamata to show that she was more popular than the Prime Minister.

“The Prime Minister is coming. May be he will come again. But people know that he has not done anything for the state. He has only belittled the state’s culture and tradition, and tried to mess up its economy. On the other hand, Mamata is genuinely concerned about the development of the state,” Yadav said.

Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from the Hoogly constituency, alleged that Mamata’s decision to hold a rally at the same venue within 48 hours of Modi’s programme showed how nervous she was.

“Why is she so scared of Modi. The TMC lost Hoogly to the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections. They will not get a single seat in the district in the Assembly elections,” Locket said.

While Hoogly seat was won by Locket in the Lok Sabha poll, the neighbouring Arambagh (six Assembly segments in Hoogly district and one in Paschim Medinipur) and Srerampur (five segments in Hoogly and two in Howrah) were both won by the TMC in 2019.

In the Lok Sabha poll, the TMC was ahead in 10 of Hoogly district’s 18 Assembly segments. The BJP had majority in the remaining eight seats.

The Assembly poll in the district is going to be a neck-and-neck fight between the BJP and the TMC with the back-to-back rallies by Modi and Mamata setting the ball rolling for the high-voltage showdown that will follow.