KOLKATA/SERAMPORE: When family ties go sour, the ripples are felt in other spheres of life as well. The battle of ballots in Serampore Lok Sabha constituency has virtually turned into a volley of personal attacks between three-time MP and Trinamool Congress candidate Kalyan Banerjee, who is up against his former son-in-law, Kabir Shankar Bose , of BJP .
The third candidate in fray, CPM ’s Dipsita Dhar , is not far behind in the race though she doesn’t share any family ties with them.
Skipping prime poll issues, Banerjee has gone all guns blazing, accusing Bose of “still living under his shadow”. Calling Banerjee a “marriage breaker”, Bose says the threetime MP is making personal remarks as he has no other agenda this election.
Dhar, who mocks Banerjee by calling him “Mr India” for his “absence” from the constituency before and after the polls, has been given the title of “Miss Universe” by the TMC MP. Banerjee has gone a step further by questioning Dhar’s credentials as a PhD scholar publicly.
Serampore has been a safe seat for Trinamool Congress since the 1998 general elections. The party lost to CPM only once in 2004. BJP has never won from this constituency that comprises seven assembly seats — Jagatballavpur, Domjur, Uttarpara, Srirampore, Champdani, Chanditala and Jangipara.
In the last assembly election, Trinamool had swept all seven constituencies and so did Banerjee in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when he secured 6,37,707 votes, defeating his nearest BJP contender, Debjit Sarkar, by 98,536 votes.
Among the 19,26,645 voters, the Hindus are in majority in this constituency. Of them, around 25% are non-Bengali electors, who had settled here from Rajasthan, UP and Bihar, alongside a sizeable population of SCs (21.7%) and Muslims (18.8%). It’s a conglomeration of different classes of people — businessmen and techies to farmers and labourers.
Evenly distributed between rural and urban belts, a quick drive along the GT Road shows how high-rise complexes, shopping hubs and food chains have mushroomed in the neighbourhoods of Uttarpara, Konnagar, Serampore, Rishra and Champdani. The condition of roads has also improved and there are more high-mast lights now. Known for its sweets, a large portion of Howrah and Hooghly’s industrial belt come under this constituency.
“Serampore has been developed like a proper city and I am confident people in this area will vote for me again for further development,” says Banerjee.
Taking a dig at Dhar, Banerjee adds, “I wonder how my opponent (the CPM candidate), who is moving around the constituency decked up like Miss Universe, couldn’t submit her thesis in nine years? How can someone who cannot handle her own work take care of an entire constituency?”
Countering Banerjee, Dhar, a PhD scholar at JNU, says, “He is never seen in the constituency other than election time. Perhaps he has powers like Mr India and can go invisible. He has no real agenda in the election and that is why he makes personal attacks. Given a chance, I will try to revive shut mills and factories in this area and would ensure Rs 7,000 minimum wage for workers.”
Speaking at an election rally alongside CM Mamata Banerjee, the TMC MP broke down on stage while sharing her daughter’s troubled married life with Bose, also a lawyer, who got divorced in 2017. “Every father wants a happy life for his daughter. I am a father as well and had married off my daughter hoping for the same. But it was not to be,” he had said at Serampore stadium ground.
Bose, a lawyer in the Supreme Court, had contested the 2021 assembly polls from the Serampore assembly seat but lost. “He can only win the game of breaking marriages and that is the reason both his daughter and son have undergone divorce. He will lose the election this time and people will vote for the path of development shown by PM Modi,” says Bose.
With inputs from Subhojyoti Kanjilal
The third candidate in fray, CPM ’s Dipsita Dhar , is not far behind in the race though she doesn’t share any family ties with them.
Skipping prime poll issues, Banerjee has gone all guns blazing, accusing Bose of “still living under his shadow”. Calling Banerjee a “marriage breaker”, Bose says the threetime MP is making personal remarks as he has no other agenda this election.
Dhar, who mocks Banerjee by calling him “Mr India” for his “absence” from the constituency before and after the polls, has been given the title of “Miss Universe” by the TMC MP. Banerjee has gone a step further by questioning Dhar’s credentials as a PhD scholar publicly.
Serampore has been a safe seat for Trinamool Congress since the 1998 general elections. The party lost to CPM only once in 2004. BJP has never won from this constituency that comprises seven assembly seats — Jagatballavpur, Domjur, Uttarpara, Srirampore, Champdani, Chanditala and Jangipara.
In the last assembly election, Trinamool had swept all seven constituencies and so did Banerjee in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when he secured 6,37,707 votes, defeating his nearest BJP contender, Debjit Sarkar, by 98,536 votes.
Among the 19,26,645 voters, the Hindus are in majority in this constituency. Of them, around 25% are non-Bengali electors, who had settled here from Rajasthan, UP and Bihar, alongside a sizeable population of SCs (21.7%) and Muslims (18.8%). It’s a conglomeration of different classes of people — businessmen and techies to farmers and labourers.
Evenly distributed between rural and urban belts, a quick drive along the GT Road shows how high-rise complexes, shopping hubs and food chains have mushroomed in the neighbourhoods of Uttarpara, Konnagar, Serampore, Rishra and Champdani. The condition of roads has also improved and there are more high-mast lights now. Known for its sweets, a large portion of Howrah and Hooghly’s industrial belt come under this constituency.
“Serampore has been developed like a proper city and I am confident people in this area will vote for me again for further development,” says Banerjee.
Taking a dig at Dhar, Banerjee adds, “I wonder how my opponent (the CPM candidate), who is moving around the constituency decked up like Miss Universe, couldn’t submit her thesis in nine years? How can someone who cannot handle her own work take care of an entire constituency?”
Countering Banerjee, Dhar, a PhD scholar at JNU, says, “He is never seen in the constituency other than election time. Perhaps he has powers like Mr India and can go invisible. He has no real agenda in the election and that is why he makes personal attacks. Given a chance, I will try to revive shut mills and factories in this area and would ensure Rs 7,000 minimum wage for workers.”
Speaking at an election rally alongside CM Mamata Banerjee, the TMC MP broke down on stage while sharing her daughter’s troubled married life with Bose, also a lawyer, who got divorced in 2017. “Every father wants a happy life for his daughter. I am a father as well and had married off my daughter hoping for the same. But it was not to be,” he had said at Serampore stadium ground.
Bose, a lawyer in the Supreme Court, had contested the 2021 assembly polls from the Serampore assembly seat but lost. “He can only win the game of breaking marriages and that is the reason both his daughter and son have undergone divorce. He will lose the election this time and people will vote for the path of development shown by PM Modi,” says Bose.
With inputs from Subhojyoti Kanjilal
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