Ghatal, around 111km from Calcutta, is witnessing a metamorphosis this poll season.

A subdivision in West Midnapore district known for its annual floods and its outgoing star MP Dev, Ghatal is drawing eyeballs for its debutante BJP candidate, Bharati Ghosh, who was once the district superintendent of police.

“More than police chief, she was known as chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s closest aide. She was more powerful than district Trinamul leaders. And now, she is a BJP candidate,” a district police official explains the change.

Mamata, whom Ghosh would refer to as “Jungle Mahal’s mother,” is now her sworn enemy. The local Trinamul leaders for whom Ghosh was accused of bending rules are now her opponents. The crisp, body-hugging khaki uniform has been replaced with loose cotton kurtis, mostly white and saffron. Occasionally, the former IPS officer drapes a lotus-printed sari. Instead of a bullet-proof Scorpio that gave her protection during her six-year stint in the Maoist-hit districts of West Midnapore and Jhargram, she is seen in a Mahindra Thar. And Ghosh, who would mostly hide her kohl eyes behind dark shades specially in public, has stopped wearing goggles when she goes out for campaigning.

“Eye contact is important,” says one of her confidants.

The hands that once wielded the lathi to beat and rule now remain folded. “Amay vote deben didi (please vote for me, sister),” she says with a smile, moving door to door, shop to shop.

Unlike in the past when she used to get security cover from the state police, now she is a central government protectee. But more than the CISF cover, she has a new army of men around her comprising local BJP supporters, some of whom used to accuse her of forcing them to join Trinamul.

West Midnapore — comprising pockets such as Ghatal, Keshpur, Garbeta and Daspur — that had once been a Left bastion has metamorphosed too — into a Trinamul fief — since the change of guard in Bengal. Opposition leaders — be it from the Left or the BJP — used to accuse Ghosh of performing the role of the district Trinamul chief.

“But we have forgotten those days. Now she is our candidate,” says BJP Jhargram district general secretary Sanjit Mahato, who was arrested by Ghosh on multiple charges in what he says an attempt to make him switch over to the Trinamul. “Everyone knows what torture I have been subjected to when she (Ghosh) was the SP. I was implicated with false cases, starting from theft to illegal arms possession to attempt to rape. But now that she has surrendered before me, I have accepted it,” adds Mahato,.

Bharati Ghosh campaigning as the BJP candidate in Ghatal The Telegraph picture

Ghosh is pulling out all stops to change her image of a high-handed cop who would allegedly keep visitors waiting for hours, was not famous for treating subordinates with a lot of respect, and was not known for sparing the lathi on those who did not toe her line.

“I had never seen her smile before. When she was the SP I had often seen her convoy pass but she would never stop or talk to us, forget smiling. But day before yesterday she came to my shop with her hands folded. I was a little taken aback and scared at first. But then she smiled,” says an elderly woman who runs a tea stall in Ghatal.

A BJP insider admits: “Her contest is with a celebrity, Tollywood star Dev. Though he was hardly visible in the area in the five years, he has had a way with people with his smile.”

Apart from making people forget the past with her smile, Ghosh has another mission — to clear her name.

Her name allegedly emerged in multiple criminal cases in the same district after her resignation in December 2017. With charges like extortion and cheating against her being probed by the state CID, she has chosen to set up her base this poll season in Daspur, where at least two criminal cases are pending in which her name figures as a suspect. A two-storey house — less than 7km from Daspur police station — in a remote village named Kolmijore rented from a Delhi-based goldsmith has become her new home.

“She is staying close to the Daspur police station. She wants to let the world know that the cases are fabricated,” says a supporter.

According to him, she has shed her past image and has emerged as a strong contender. “Hundreds of people wait along the roads to see her as she has celebrity status.”

Ghatal votes on May 12