Left parties set eyes on Didi’s home turf ahead of byelection

Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 22

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After putting up a poor show in the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Left parties have now set their eyes on the forthcoming bypoll at Bhabanipur, the seat that fell vacant following the resignation of TMC sitting MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

Mamata has 6 months to get re-elected

Mamata Banerjee had lost the recently-concluded West Bengal Assembly election from Nandigram seat to Suvendhu Adhikari. As per the Constitutional provision in such cases, the TMC chief has six months to get re-elected to the Assembly or she risks losing her CM post.

Although the TMC has not officially announced about Mamata’s candidature, it is a foregone conclusion that she will contest from Bhabanipur, her home constituency, after she lost from Nandigram.

BJP’s Guha wants to rejoin TMC

• Former TMC MLA Sonali Guha, who switched over to the BJP ahead of the elections, on Saturday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, apologising to her for leaving the party and urging the CM to take her back.
• In the letter, which was shared by Guha on social media, she said she left the party after an emotional outburst.
• “I took the wrong decision of joining another party. I could not get accustomed there,” she said. PTI

As per the Constitutional provision in such cases, the TMC chief has six months to get re-elected to the Assembly or she risks losing her CM post. A central leader of the CPI(M), which heads the Left Front in the state, said: “The Left parties will not commit anything unless the TMC announces its nominee for Bhabanipur.” The leader said the contest would draw attention in case the Chief Minister contested from the segment.