The BJP on Thursday fielded Shankar Ghosh in Siliguri where he would take on his former mentor Asok Bhattacharya who contests as the CPM candidate.

“I have been in politics for the past 30 years. This time, I have got a larger platform and hope that I will meet people’s aspirations,” said Ghosh.

He was the district secretaries of the SFI and the DYFI. When the Left won the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in 2015, Ghosh became the member, mayor-in-council and was later elevated as a district secretariat member of the CPM.

In the past few years, Ghosh had virtually become the “man Friday” of Siliguri MLA Bhattacharya. However, earlier this month, Ghosh had quit the CPM and as a member of the board of administrators at the SMC. “A section of CPM leaders is disinclined to encourage the young and want to cling to power,” Ghosh, 45, had said. He joined the BJP on March 13.

Asked about Ghosh’s nomination by the BJP, his rival Bhattacharya said: “I am confident of winning the seat again. Let Trinamul and the BJP contest between themselves….. we are fighting elections with specific issues and policies, while the BJP is playing on religious lines.”