West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, who was expected to release the candidate list on Monday, might delay the announcement as the party looks to join hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has extended its support to Banerjee as it seeks to expands its base in West Bengal.
Banerjee will meet RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at her Kalighat residence after the party’s meeting and discuss the seat sharing arrangement for the upcoming polls. RJD will be aiming at a significant percentage of Bihari vote share in Howrah, West Burdwan, parts of Kolkata and some bordering districts.
Tejashwi, who is also the leader of the opposition in Bihar, is targeting to contest on 10-12 assembly seats where the population from Bihar is ‘sizeable’ in numbers.
Sources said Yadav will visit Kalighat Temple and after offering prayers, he will meet TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim to discuss RJD’s plans for Bengal Assembly polls. “Around 4 pm, Tejashwi will meet our party supremo Mamata Banerjee,” a TMC leader said.
The meeting between Tejashwi and Mamata is crucial in the midst of TMC’s plans to announce the name of the candidates for the first four phases of the Assembly Polls. Around 11.30 am, Mamata has called for an election committee meeting of the party.
On Sunday, senior RJD leaders Abdul Bari Sidiqqui and Shyam Rajak met TMC’s election planner Prashant Kishore in Kolkata for preliminary talks on a possible alliance in the state.
On the question of RJD contesting the assembly elections in West Bengal, Free Press Journal quoted the leaders saying, “We will submit our report to the party high command, and any decision would be taken by the party. We would inform the leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as well.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has already declared his party’s support to Mamata Banerjee in the state assembly polls.
Meanwhile, party insiders claimed that besides induction of new faces from the entertainment industry and sports, Mamata has selectively picked candidates with ‘clean image’ to contest against BJP’s ‘Lokkho Sonar Bangla’.
On February 26, the schedule for the much awaited high-voltage West Bengal Assembly polls were announced. The polls in Bengal will be held in eight phases. The first phase of polling in West Bengal will be on March 27, the second phase of polling will be on April 1, the third phase will be held April 6 and the fourth phase will be on April 10. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eight phases will be on April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29 respectively.
Term of West Bengal assembly will end on May 30 and out of 294 Assembly seats, there are 68 SC seats, and 16 seats are reserved for SC.
Soon after the dates were announced, Mamata hit back at the Election Commission for holding polls in eight phases in Bengal. She questioned, “It is done on instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah?”