Marked by a perfect event management, that included a first-of-its kind announcement of party nominees for the Lok Sabha elections from a public rally, and making them walk on a rock-concert-type ramp in the midst of a reported 8-lakh-strong crowd Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday made it loudly clear to a "still-in-the-waiting" Congress Party that she would not ally with them at the hustings.
Having announced TMC candidates from all the 42 seats Banerjee tended to walk her talk that she would "not ally with the Congress in Bengal despite my support for the INDIA alliance elsewhere."
At the end of a BJP-bashing rally christened Jana Garjan Sabha (Public Outcry Meet) Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the names of 42 TMC candidates and walked with them on the 320-feet blue ramp --- that resembled a huge 'Plus' from a drone's eye view --- right in the midst of the teeming lakhs after declaring that TMC was "introducing its candidates to the public in a fashion no other party had done before."
She said, "Here is a novel thing that we have for you … you have never seen such a thing before … after Abhishek Banerjee announces the names of the candidates I will walk with them down the ramp for you to see them."
Apart from the innovative presentation of a political event Banerjee's outfit had many more surprises for the political fraternity fielding at least two cricketers and three "outsiders" --- in the form of Mumbai star Shatrughna Sinha, and former cricketers Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan --- from Asansol, Burdwan West and Behrampore, the last being the long-held constituency of Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury.
By fielding the three alleged "non-Bengalis" the TMC had hit its own "outsider and anti-Bengali" argument that it has often used against the BJP, experts said.
Besides, Banerjee has promoted 11 MLAs including two ministers to contest in the Lok Sabha driving home the argument of the opposition that she is not left with very many decent and acceptable faces in her kitty. "With the TMC brimming with lumpens and thieves Mamata Banerjee had no other way to elevate her MLAs to save the day for her," said senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh.
Among the candidates Banerjee has three BJP leaders turncoats --- excepting Azad who left the party long ago. Among them are Krishna three sitting BJP MLAs Krishna Kalyani, Mukut Mani Adhikari and Viswajit Das from Raiganj, Ranaghat South and Bongaon respectively. The Sunday's list saw Mamata Banerjee dropping four sitting MPs Arjun Singh from Barrackpore, two actors-turned-politicians Mimi Chakrabarty from Jadavpur and Nusrat Jahan from Basirhat --- in whose constituency Sandeshkhali is an MLA seat, and Chowdhury Mohan Jatua from Maturapur.