Bhabanipur Bypoll: Mamta Banerjee has to win this by-poll to retain her chief minister's post. (File)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee this evening made an unscheduled stop at the Sola Ana Mosque in Kolkata on her way home from work, and briefly addressed the people who had gathered there. The historic mosque is in the civic ward 77 and is part of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency where she is contesting for a place in the West Bengal Assembly.
Stepping out of the mosque, Ms Banerjee interacted with locals who had gathered to see the chief minister. She was accompanied by Firhad Hakim, minister for transport and housing, who is playing an active role in her election campaign.
Her unscheduled campaign pit-stop came on a day her political rivals filed nomination papers for the September 30 bypolls to Bhabanipur.
BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal, dressed in a traditional festive Bengali white saree with a red border, offered prayers at a temple before filing her papers. She was accompanied by a team of three BJP MPs -- Suvendu Adhikari, Arjun Singh and Soumitra Khan -- as well as Dinesh Trivedi, former Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP who is now with the BJP.
Ms Tibrewal, 41, who is the main lawyer in the Bengal post-poll violence case against the Mamata Banerjee-led government at Calcutta High Court, said, "Save Bengal. Bangla Bachao. Bangali Bachao. Violence has to be stopped. Bloodshed must be stopped."
Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP leader who won the Nandigram seat against Mamata Banerjee, joined the attack. "I will ask Bhabanipur to do what Nandigram did. Bhabanipur will make history," he said.
"It will be a difficult fight because the mafia police are with TMC. But the daughter of Bengal fought in court and won. She will fight here and win too," Mr Adhikari added.
In the assembly election earlier this year, Ms Banerjee had lost in Nandigram to Mr Adhikari. Ms Banerjee has challenged the election result in court.
Trinamool minister Firhad Hakim, who was with Mamata Banerjee at her impromptu interaction with voters, earlier said, "I feel sorry for this young girl Priyanka. She fought at Entally and lost. Now she will lose from Bhabanipur. She should keep trying but Mamata Banerjee is in the hearts of people here."
Asked about Ms Tibrewal's "victory" in court, Mr Hakim said, "She hasn't won in the high court. Only an order for an enquiry has been passed. An enquiry happened. The CBI has said many incidents were not political violence. There is no need to get excited about Priyanka Tibrewal's so-called victory in court. Because what was in her support --.the NHRC -- it is linked to the BJP. So its reports can never be true."
The CPM's Srijeeb Biswas as well as a number of independents also filed nominations for Bhabanipur today.
A 31-year-old lawyer, Biswas, is fighting elections for the first time and hopes to be the first Left MLA to find a place in the current Assembly.
The Left and Congress drew a blank in the Assembly polls earlier this year.
The Congress declared it would not field a candidate against Mamata Banerjee at Bhabanipur or campaign against her.
Some state BJP leaders were in favour of a contest but the high command disapproved, most probably after recent discussions between Sonia Gandhi and the Bengal chief minister on putting up a united opposition front against the BJP in 2024.
Asked if it was daunting to challenge Mamata Banerjee herself in his electoral debut, Mr Biswas said, "The fight is not against a person but against policies and the Left has always fought the Trinamool Congress. And for the BJP, the people will give a befitting reply to soaring prices of fuel and food. I am hopeful."