Khela Hobe: Releasing its fifth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on Sunday, the BJP named Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who quit from the Calcutta High Court earlier this month and joined the saffron party, to contest for the Tamluk parliamentary seat in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. The list contained 111 seats.
Debangshu Bhattacharya, 27, the head of the state’s Trinamool Congress social media wing, is taking on him. On March 10, West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, simultaneously revealed the identities of the contenders for all 42 of the state’s seats.
As a sitting judge of the Calcutta high court, Justice (retired) Abhijit Gangopadhyay garnered media attention in 2021 when he made forceful observations in a case involving purported irregularities in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) teacher recruitment process and ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the matter.
Because it is a central agency, the BJP-led Union government is the body to which the CBI reports. Furthermore, it was alleged that his decisions were made with “political motives” in mind as the party sought to expand its influence in the state. His choice to enter the BJP and transition from the judiciary to politics served as further evidence for these accusations.
After accusing him of becoming a leader “after denying jobs to thousands of students,” Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the former judge, promising to defeat the “BJP babu who was sitting on the bench” if he ran for office.
“Get ready. I will send students to fight you wherever you contest,” she declared.
With rumors of Gangopadhyay’s nomination from Tamluk circulating in the media, the Trinamool fielded Bhattacharya to challenge the former judge.
As a member of the Trinamool Chattra Parishad, the party’s student wing, Bhattacharya was involved in student politics. Since 2022, she has been in charge of the party’s social media presence. Additionally, he is credited with penning the popular campaign song “Khela Hobe” ahead of the 2021 assembly elections.
also read : China’s latest computer chip regulations, which take a jab at the US
