In Bengal, BJP fields Soumendu Adhikari from Contai, Pawan Singh from Asansol
The BJP retained Union minister of state for youth affairs Nitish Parmanik in the Cooch Behar seat, and Union minister of state and prominent Mathua leader Santanu Thakur has been fielded from Bongaon
Kolkata: Leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly Suvendu Adhikari’s brother Soumendu Adhikari, Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh, party state chief Sukanta Majumdar, central ministers Subhash Sarkar and Santanu Thakur, were among the 20 candidates named by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP on Saturday announced the first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming general elections. This includes the names of 20 candidates out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
The party this time denied a ticket to state chief and Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari and instead fielded his younger brother Soumendu Adhikari, a former Trinamool Congress MP from the Tamluk constituency, from Contai in East Midnapore. Their father Sisir Adhikari is the current MP from the seat.
Dropping John Barla, BJP’s Alipurduar MP and Union minister of state for minority affairs, the party fielded Manoj Tigga, a BJP legislator from Madarihat and the party’s chief whip in the state assembly from Alipurduar in north Bengal.
Among the 20 candidates fielded in West Bengal, three are women candidates – Locket Chatterjee, Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury and Priya Saha.
While Chatterjee is the BJP MP from Hooghly and has been fielded from the same seat, Chowdhury, also popularly known as Nirbhoy Didi, is the party’s legislator from English Bazar in Malda. She had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Malda South and has been fielded from the same seat again.
Bhojpur playback singer and actor Pawan Singh’s name was announced from the Asansol constituency. Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is the TMC’s MP from Asansol.
The TMC took a dig saying that the BJP has virtually given walkover in some seats.
“I thank the BJP for virtually handing over some seats to the TMC without a fight. They should announce the candidates for the rest 22 seats with the same discretion. Greetings,” Debangshu Bhattacharya, TMC spokesperson wrote on his X handle.
The party meanwhile retained Union minister of state for youth affairs Nitish Parmanik in the Cooch Behar seat, and Union minister of state and prominent Mathua leader Santanu Thakur has been fielded from Bongaon.
Other familiar faces in the list include the party’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar from Balurghat, Jagannath Sarkar from Ranaghat, Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato from Purulia and Locket Chattopdhyay from Hooghly.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day visit to West Bengal, said the lotus (BJP’s symbol) would bloom in all 42 seats in West Bengal. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had set a target to win 22 seats and bagged 18.
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