Can Mahua Moitra sidestep 'royal' saffron hurdle on her road to 'redemption'?

KRISHNANAGAR: At a time when issues like citizenship, religious intolerance, unemployment, corruption and women's safety are dominating Bengal politics, at Krishnanagar, alleged "illegal expulsion" and "royal legacy" are the leading poll pitches as former MP and TMC candidate Mahua Moitra takes on BJP's poll debutant Amrita Roy, a direct descendent of Raja Krishna Chandra Roy.
A CPM fief for 28 years since 1971, BJP was the first to dent it when the party had won the seat in 1999. CPM wrested it in 2004 before TMC's celebrity candidate, actor Tapas Paul, won from the seat twice in subsequent elections. TMC was victorious again in 2019 when Moitra won by 63,128 votes, pipping her BJP opponent Kalyan Choubey. Though the margin wasn't huge, the victory was considered noteworthy as Paul had to be dropped following his arrest in the chit fund scam.

But the situation has changed since then following Moitra's dramatic expulsion from the Lok Sabha late last year over the alleged cash-for-query scam. Although TMC and Mamata Banerjee stood firmly behind her, calling her sacking a "murder of democracy", and had announced her nomination from the constituency several months before the official announcement in March, poll pundits believe it won't be a cakewalk for the fiery investment banker.

"Other issues can take a backseat at this moment as our fight is straight against the TMC candidate who was expelled from Parliament on grounds of ethics and has thus been proven unfit to be an MP. We are taking that message to the public," said Shankar Bairagi, a BJP booth president at Golaidori village in Birpur II panchayat, where Moitra was campaigning on Wednesday.
Close by, Moitra was breezing past undulating muddy village roads in Birpur I and II of Nakashipara assembly constituency on an SUV, with men and women rushing out of homes to take a look and wave at her. Moitra waved back, threw flying kisses at kids and shook hands with women while stopping for an occasional selfie. She also stopped at a local club, where members were celebrating Rabindra Jayanti, and garlanded a picture of Rabindranath Tagore.

BJP's Roy, who is banking on the legacy of Maharaja Krishna Chandra Roy's 55-year reign here prior to British rule, started her day paying homage to a Tagore statue at the Krishnanagar market before heading to Bethuadahari for her morning campaign.
"You can see Moitra's popularity among the voters. They adore her and look up to her. The Rajmata (Queen mother, referring to Roy) means nothing to these people as her royal legacy is a put off. She has also never visited these villages during her campaign. We are confident of victory and even increasing our margin," said Janardhan Halder, the TMC block president at Birpur I.
Putting her weight behind Moitra, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has held multiple election rallies here, the latest being last week after which Moitra shared a Facebook video of her dancing with Banerjee at the dais with a caption: "The most fun clip of the campaign so far".

However, one thing that is still a concern for party workers is Moitra controlling the campaign all by herself with a small group of professionals of her choice and many party workers ruing that they do not have a direct line of communication with the candidate. But officially, they all vowed to give their best to the campaign built around TMC's popular welfare schemes.
The importance of the contest for BJP too can be gauged from the fact that Roy, along with Sandeshkhali BJP candidate Rekha Patra, were the only two contestants PM Narendra Modi had called up when their nominations were announced. Modi has held two campaign rallies here.
Spread across seven assembly constituencies, TMC is banking mostly on three Muslim-majority segments - Kaliganj, Nakashipara and Chapra. The four other seats, Tehatta, Palashipara, Krishnanagar Uttar and Krishnanagar Dakshin are where the BJP is trying to give a tough challenge to Trinamool.
TMC had won six of these seats in the 2021 assembly election barring Krishnanagar Uttar, which was won by BJP's Mukul Roy. However, threatening to create an upset, especially by cutting into TMC's vote share, is the Left candidate, S M Sadi, a former MLA from Palashipara.
(With inputs from Poulami Roy Banerjee in Kolkata and Asish Poddar in Nadia)