The musical battle for Sreerampore

Sreerampore: The Sreerampore seat in West Bengal would have been just one of the 543 except for one thing. Its BJP candidate, music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri. His advent in the electoral arena seems to have tickled the musical bone in many, including his rival  Trinamool's Kalyan Banerjee who has dug out a song specially for the Disco King.

Bappi Lahiri is being called the Pied Piper of Sreerampore. Wherever he goes, the crowds follow. Old, young, men, women, children, all of them are singing his hit songs.

An angry Kalyan Banerjee has complained to the election commission that Bappi's mega roadshows are disrupting traffic. But Bappi is singing on and refuses to rebuke his rival.

"De de pyar de pyar de pyar de re, de de pyar de...Bappida ko vote de, Sreerampore ke Janata to pranam," sings Bappi Lahiri, adding, "I have got no issue with my opponent because I respect everybody."

Is Bappi a real threat for Kalyan who won last time by 1 lakh 37,000 votes? Trinamool, of course, says no. But there is talk of a Modi wave, of Bappi cutting Trinamool votes, of a CPM youngster wooing away the youth, and of Kalyan losing committed Congress votes because there is no alliance with the Trinamool this time.

Abdul Mannan, Congress candidate in Sreerampore, is sure Kalyan will hurt. "When Congress and Trinamool Congress united in the 2009 and 2011 elections, the alliance candidate won. But after that the alliance ended and Congress people who supported Trinamool Congress, now they are frustrated," says Mannan.

Hard on the campaign trail, Kalyan Banerjee pooh poohs any real competition. He claims he has utilized his entire MPLAD funds for his constituency. He claims he has got another 65 crore for Sreerampore's development. He claims Trinamool is organized and united. And he also has a song on his lips for Bappi Lahiri

"Bombay say aya mera dost, dost to salaam karo. Din may khao piyo, raat may aram karo," sings Kalyan. So, no competition? "No no...no I don't consider him as competitor. Competition is between Abdul Mannan and Bappi Lahiri. Who will be third and who will be fourth."

Kalyan is not confident without reason. A 1 lakh 37 margin is hard to beat. But in the last 15 years, Sreerampore has never voted in the same person twice. So the question mark dangles.