Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal is emerging as a symbol of internal power struggles within the Trinamool Congress (TMC). With veteran parliamentarian and sitting TMC MP for the last three terms, Sudip Bandopadhyay set to take on 67-year-old Tapas Roy, four-time TMC MLA who recently switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there is a debate about ‘old versus new’.
According to a PTI report, while Bandopadhyay represents the TMC's old guard and enjoys TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s confidence, Roy is symbolic of the aspirations of the new generation.
The Kolkata North seat has been a TMC stronghold since 1998. It has political significance for the party and the opposition as it is close to the state’s power corridors. While TMC does have the challenge of facing the BJP and the Left-Congress alliance for the seat, the PTI report says that this time, it may be significant as a marker of ‘internal fissures’.
“Kolkata North may be a TMC fortress. But this time, more than the BJP or Left-Congress, it has emerged as a textbook sample of infighting within the TMC. Don’t be surprised if you witness a major upset in this seat,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said in the report.
Similarly, the State general secretary of TMC, Kunal Ghosh, has said, “Kolkata North, will have two candidates from the TMC… one fighting with a TMC symbol and the other with that of the BJP.”
Roy had switched to the BJP in March this year over re-nomination disagreements for 71-year-old Bandopadhyay from the seat. The decision came as a big jolt for Banerjee and while some party leaders tried to retain him, he eventually quit and blamed everything on Bandopadhyay.
“Since the TMC was considering my candidature this time, Bandopadhyay orchestrated ED raids at my residence to malign me. He has no interest in serving the people but still wants to hold on to his chair. People will teach him a lesson,” said Roy in a PTI report referring to the day-long search at his residence in January this year in connection with the state municipal jobs scam.
Meanwhile, Bandopadhyay, who represented the Lok Sabha seat, then called Calcutta North East, on TMC tickets in 1998 and 1999 is confident about his victory.
“I am a loyal soldier of Banerjee. I am contesting for my fourth term because my party supremo has considered me fit enough for the seat,” he told PTI. The constituency’s 13 lakh voters, will poll on June 1 during the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.