Bengal polls: Mamata Banerjee picks 12 new celebrity faces
ll the celebrities have been fielded from south Bengal, where TMC is considered to have a stronghold
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee packed her list with a dozen faces from the Bengali film, TV and sports world as she announced the names of her party candidates for the upcoming assembly elections on Friday before all other parties.
She announced the names of 291 candidates. Several of the names who appeared on the list joined Bengal’s ruling party in the past few days.
They are actors Sayantika Banerjee, Kanchan Mallick, Sayani Ghosh, Soham Chakraborty, Koushani Mukherjee, Lovely Maitra, June Malia, Birbaha Hansda, singer Aditi Munshi, film director Raj Chakraborty, footballer Bidesh Bose and cricketer Manoj Tiwari.
The other celebrities in the list were sitting MLAs who were elected in the 2016 assembly elections. They were ministers Bratya Basu, Indranil Sen and MLA Chiranjit Chakraborty.
It is clear that TMC leaders are trying to cash in on the popularity of the celebrities, something that has been an enduring tactic of Mamata Banerjee down the years.
Though Bharatiya Janata Party is yet to announce the list of their candidates political analysts say that the saffron camp will try to match Mamata’s star cast with their own.
Of those celebrities, who are expected to get tickets for the assembly polls from BJP are actors Srabonti Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh and Yash Dasgupta.
The announcement of candidates by Mamata Banerjee means they can jump in the campaign right away that would lend them an edge over their rivals. TMC Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Derek O Brien, who was a quizmaster in his early career, is conducting training sessions for the new recruits from the film world to teach them the Dos and Don’ts of in the world of politics.
In the list of 291, the number of women candidates is 50 (17.18%).
The polls in Bengal are scheduled in eight phases between March 27 and April 29.
Though film personalities did take part in elections during the Left rule (1977-2011) in Bengal, it is Mamata Banerjee who was instrumental in inducting popular faces in large numbers in the political fold.
She began inviting persons from the Tollygunge film industry at the party’s flagship political programme on July 21 every year when singers and actors joined the chief minister on a dais and also danced to popular numbers.
Film personalities also joined TMC leaders in campaigns in 2014 Lok Sabha, 2016 assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.