The prominent red tinge in the political discourse of Bankura, known for its red soil may have faded away considerably, but veteran TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee is taking no chances. Ten years after he lost from Bankura to Left stalwart Basudeb Acharia, Mukherjee is back in Bankura hoping for another stint in Delhi politics.
TMC was virtually forced to shift its incumbent MP Moon Moon Sen from here as she rarely turned up and there was a great amount of discontentment among the ranks and files about her. Hence the party has put faith on veteran state minister Subrata Mukherjee to win from the traditional left stronghold. BJP candidate is Subhash Sarkar who is a reputed doctor. Left has fielded their tallest leader in the district Amiya Patra. Patra has got decent feedback in his campaign and is hoping that the voters who deserted them en masse in the last few years will come back. But the greatest story of this election is BJP's steady rise in the tribal-dominated western part of Bengal. It has not only increased its voteshare but has also done well in the Panchayat election. A significant chunk of left cadres have also switched sides.
Hence battle hardened Subrata Mukherjee can't afford to be complacent. In the campaign trail, Mukherjee crisscrossed the entire constituency particularly focussing on areas where TMC's graph is falling. A strong Left suits Mukherjee nicely as that would mean division in the anti-TMC vote bank. One big point which the opposition has made against him is that as Kolkata resident, he wouldn't be coming to his constituency if elected as MP. Mukherjee though has tried to shed the outsider tag and have claimed that as minister he has undertaken several projects in Bankura, particularly for bringing drinking water in the parched area.
Top BJP leaders have canvassed in the constituency and the party hopes that infighting within TMC helps them. Saffron party cadres though wanted Sarkar to be more proactive in campaigning. In the past Congress has won the seat five times, CPI twice, TMC once and CPI(M)'S Basudeb Acharia won the seat nine times beginning from 1980. The streak was only broken in 2014 when Moon Moon Sen won by around a lakh vote against Acharia.
The assembly segments under Bankura are Raghunathpur, Saltora, Chhatna, Ranibandh , Raipur, Taldangra and Bankura. TMC had won 5 out of the 7 assembly seats in 2016 though the remaining two crossed over later. The opposition is hoping that the silent voter who was allegedly deneid chance of exercising their franchise during the Panchayat election will take their revenge. TMC though believes that Bankura's Bhagirath as Subrata Mukherjee is being called for bringing water projects there would easily coast to a win. In few days time, we will have the answer.
