Shatrughan Sinha, Babul Supriyo: Mamata Banerjee's picks for Bengal bypolls
Babul Supriyo had returned to Trinamool after quitting the BJP last year.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo are the Trinamool Congress picks for the Bengal bypolls, Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday. While 76-year-old Sinha will fight the Lok Sabha by-election from Asansol, Supriyo, 51, will fight the assembly by-polls from Ballygunje. “Happy to announce on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress that Sri Shatrughan Sinha, former Union Minister and famed actor, will be our candidate in Loksabha by-election from Asansol. (½) (sic)," tweeted Banerjee.
“Sri Babul Supriyo, former union minister and noted singer, will be our candidate in Vidhansabha by-election from Ballygunge. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla, Jai Ma-Mati-Manush!(2/2),” the Bengal chief minister said in another tweet. Supriyo had quit the BJP last year - months after the Trinamool Congress swept the state elections - and joined Mamata Banerjee's party. Later, he had also resigned as the Asansol Lok Sabha MP. "I will not hold on to the Berth/Perks/Salary of a MP now that I am no longer a part of @BJP4India that I won the seat for. If I have it in me, will win it again (sic),” he had tweeted at the time.
Sinha, who was with the BJP ealier, had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 national polls. However, he had lost from his stronghold Patna Sahib in Bihar to the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Meanwhile, Supriyo's switch to the Trinamool Congress last year came in a surprise turn of events. He had been a critic of the party when he was with the BJP.
When Mamata Banerjee's party won a handsome win in the Bengal state polls, the singer-politician had said in a tweet. “Neither will I congratulate Mamata Banerjee for her win in Bengal nor do I wish to say that I 'respect' the people's verdict because I sincerely think that people of Bengal made a historic mistake by not giving Bharatiya Janata Party a chance." The post was later deleted. He had lost the state election from the Tollygunj seat.
Ahead of the 2024 national polls, Mamata Banerjee has been meeting opposition leaders amid attempts by rivals to forge an anti-BJP front. Earlier on Sunday, she attacked the BJP over the provident fund rate cut move. "The anti-people, anti-worker step exposes the crudely lopsided public policies of the current central establishment which espouses interests of big capital at the expense of farmers, workers, and middle classes. The black initiative must be thwarted by united protests (sic)," she wrote in a tweet.
