Gas price jab, fish on menu: MLA-hopefuls make full use of Sunday to reach out to voters amid Bengal polls

KOLKATA: From carrying a 3.5 kg fish to walking several kilometres carrying a dhaak on his shoulder, and from distributing visiting cards with personal mobile numbers to teasing the opposition candidate over gas price hike even amid courtesy calls, MLA-hopefuls from TMC, BJP and CPM were at their colourful best as they began their long election campaign from Sunday.

In a bid to counter the criticism Bengal BJP often faces over some BJP-governed states choosing vegetarian dishes over a non-vegetarian diet, Bidhannagar's BJP candidate Saradwat Mukhopadhyay, an oncologist, took out a rally carrying a 3.5 kg katla fish to dispel the narrative. This comes during the occasion of Navratri. Incidentally, eating fish during Navratri had snowballed into a major political issue during the 2024 LS polls.

"Who is going to stop us from eating fish? We will eat everything. Trinamool said the BJP will remove fish and meat from Bengali household menus. The false narrative should stop now. Here in Bengal, we even send fish as an auspicious gift during weddings," Mukhopadhyay said.

At Maniktala, while BJP candidate Tapas Roy campaigned in the Kakurgachhi area and made a courtesy visit to the residence of former TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey, his wife and current MLA Supti Pandey welcomed him.

In a light exchange, Pandey, however, remarked with a smile that she could not serve Roy (a former TMC functionary who defected to BJP in 2024) his favourite ‘kachori' as there was no gas at home, adding that his party was to blame for that. "We share a long bonding. But I feel bad that I couldn't serve him ‘kachori' as there is no LPG at home," quipped Pandey, whose daughter Shreyya is the TMC candidate from Maniktala this year.

At Dakshindari in Lake Town, fire minister and four-time MLA Sujit Bose took out a huge procession with 100 dhakis, and musicians in colour-coordinated dresses carrying huge placards of Bose, as the candidate himself stood on a jeep waving to bystanders and others standing on balconies. "You can see the love people have for me here," said Bose.

Equally confident was filmmaker Raj Chakraborty, who took out a musical procession with ‘khol', ‘kartal' and ‘dhak' at ward 1 of Barrackpore after offering prayers at a temple of Harichand-Guruchand Thakur. "Last year, too, I started my campaign from this place. This has been a lucky kick-off point for me, so I didn't want to change the route. Our party has done a lot of development work and I am confident people will recognise that," said Chakraborty.

His opponent, BJP's Kaustav Bagchi, who moved around carrying a megaphone during the inaugural election campaign pleading for "one chance" from the voters, challenged Chakraborty and said he would win by a margin of 50,000 votes.

CPM's Minakshi Mukherjee was seen distributing visiting cards to voters during her campaign at Uttarpara. "I am available 24x7 on this number," she said while handing out the cards. Her opponent, TMC's Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, said: "I am a local, unlike migrants like them. Everyone already has my number. Those who don't, can check my social media page as well as my professional advocate page for it. I don't need a new number to share with voters as a gimmick," he said.

In Shyampukur, TMC candidate Shashi Panja began her campaign by offering puja at Nistarini Mandir before covering parts of the Girish Park. Referring to the March 14 attack, Panja said locals knew their MLA and would respond through the ballot box.

BJP candidate Rudranil Ghosh was fielded from his ancestral place at Shibpur, Howrah, where he is popularly known as Babai. "The voters here are like my relatives," said Ghosh. Known for his limericks, Ghosh was seen reciting a few on request.