Mamata desperate to win Howrah

Jun 02, 2013 - Parwez Hafeez |

Age Correspondent

Why is Mamata Banerjee so desperate to win the Howrah Lok Sabha byelection being held on Sunday. If one takes into consideration the fact that whoever wins the seat will have a term of less than a year because the next Lok Sabha elections are due in May 2014.

Then why is Ms Banerjee so hell-bent on retaining the seat? A few months ago, there were three Assembly bypolls in the state — English Bazar, Rejinagar and Nalhati. Ms Banerjee did not campaign in either.
On the other hand, in Howrah Lok Sabha constituency, she addressed four rallies and led a road show.
Although Trinamul Congress camp is claiming it will comfortably win the seat, Ms Banerjee has been a little jittery. In fact, the vehemence with which she attacked the election commission and the Centre for so promptly announcing the bypoll that it became evident that she dreaded the bypoll at this juncture.
It is not hard to find the reason for her aversion. This will be the first election after the collapse of the Saradha chit fund company which had badly shaken the Mamata government. The duped depositors are as much angry with Saradha Group owner Sudipta Sen as with the ruling party. Despite Ms Banerjee’s various damage control measures, including setting up of a `500 crore relief fund and passage of an anti-Ponzi scheme bill in record time, the impact of the chit fund scam meltdown may adversely affect the electoral prospects of Trinamul Congress candidate Prasun Banerjee. This apprehension plus the fear that the Congress may split the anti-Left vote in Howrah is causing serious concerns to Ms Banerjee. In one of her rallies, she lamented that the Congress fielded candidate in Howrah although she had not fielded a candidate in Jangipur bypoll against President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit.
Again, she was possibly trying to assuage her own fears when she announced that it was wrong to believe that the Trinamul could not win without an alliance with the Congress. She was so scared of a drastic split in anti-Left vote that she sent an emissary (her Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh) to request BJP president Rajnath Singh to not field a candidate in Howrah.

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