MP Jaya Bachchan in Bengal to campaign for ruling TMC

Veteran actor and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan would be campaigning for the ruling Trinamool Congress during the ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal from Monday, party leaders said.

While polls in 60 assembly constituencies have already been held in the first two phases, elections to the remaining 234 seats will be held in six more phases till April 29.

A senior TMC leader said that Bachchan would participate in at least four road shows on April 6 and 7 and may even share the stage with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a public rally during her stay in the state till April 8.

The actor landed in at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata late on Sunday and was received by senior TMC leaders Derek O’Brien and Chandrima Bhattacharya.

Click here for complete coverage of West Bengal assembly elections

Bachchan is likely to use her Bengal connection to bolster the TMC’s election campaign and the party’s main poll slogan ‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chay’ (Bengal wants its own daughter).

Bachchan is expected attend a roadshow at Tollygunge on Friday afternoon where BJP MP Babul Supriyo is pitted against TMC leader Arup Biswas. She would also be felicitated at the TMC bhavan in Kolkata.

She made her film debut, starring as a teenager in Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar, starring Bengali actors Anil Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee.

But it is not the TMC alone that has tried to exploit the MP’s Bengal connection. In December 2020, Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra, also BJP in-charge for 48 Bengal assembly constituencies, had called on Indira Bhaduri, Bachchan’s mother, at her Bhopal residence in a bid to reach out to the Bengali community living in the state in the run-up to these elections.

The BJP has also ready roped in veteran Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty who has been extensively campaigning for the party, participating in multiple roadshows.