Mamata Banerjee is purportedly ready with a list of Trinamul Congress candidates for all 294 Assembly constituencies, but she didn’t announce even on Wednesday the nominees for the first phase of the elections.
In a marked departure from Mamata’s practice of announcing the names of Trinamul candidates ahead of all other parties, the Bengal chief minister kept holding her cards close to the chest, which sources attributed to counsel from poll consultant Prashant Kishor and her religious belief.
“This is a crucial election. The BJP is yet to announce names. The others (the Sanyukt Morcha comprising the Left Front, Congress and the ISF) are also far from doing so. There’s no need for a rush,” said a senior Trinamul MP.
However, since the last date for filing nomination for the first phase (March 27) of the polls is next Tuesday, nerves were taut in the ruling camp on Wednesday afternoon when it became clear that Mamata was not going to publish the candidate list.
“PK (Kishor) has advised Didi against declaring the names for at least the initial phases without first seeing the BJP list. That will enable us to fine-tune our list, making some last-minute changes according to the need,” said the MP.
“Besides, she has always considered Friday to be auspicious. She has, for decades, been conducting special prayers for Santoshi Mata (a deity in Hindu folklore) every Friday. Also, a senior servitor of the Jagannath Temple at Puri (who conducted special prayers at her residence the day the polls were announced) had suggested that a good time to declare the candidates will be after 5pm on Friday,” he said, adding that Mamata would file nominations to contest from Nandigram on March 11, the day of Maha Shivratri this year.
The BJP state unit’s election management committee met on Wednesday to shortlist the names of probable candidates for the first two phases.
Sources said for each of the 60 constituencies (which will go to the polls in the first two phases), around five probable names have been short-listed.
However, in yet another indication of how little faith the national leadership of the party has in the state unit, all the names — nearly 1,000 for the 60 seats — are to be presented for consideration.
BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh, the national joint general-secretary (organisation) Shivprakash, and the party’s Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya will carry the two lists with themselves for the Thursday meeting of the parliamentary committee in Delhi. One list will have the short-listed names — around 300 of them — and the other will have all the names.
“After the Thursday meeting, the candidates for the first two phases would be announced, either in the evening itself or on Friday morning,” said a BJP state functionary.
Trinamul insiders said Mamata might announce all the 294 names on Friday, as she plans to begin an extensive campaign tour from Saturday.
“She is going to north Bengal on Saturday. On Sunday, from there, she would steal Narendra Modi’s thunder,” said a Bengal minister.
He said the chief minister, in an unusual move, might rain on the Prime Minister’s parade — he has a rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Calcutta on Sunday — by conducting her own public event in the north around the same time.
“Now, she apparently wants to deny him unhindered coverage in electronic and print media. This could well be her strategy for the entire poll season this time,” he added.
From the Sanyukt Morcha, the Left Front has decided to announce its list of candidates for the first two phases on Monday.
The Congress state unit, which will meet on Saturday, would also declare its candidates for the first two phases also on Monday, if not on Saturday.
ISF chairman Naushad Siddiqui said discussions within his party were on and the list of candidates for the first phase would be announced in “a day or two”.
