Ready to contest against Abhishek Banerjee
The Indian Secular Front (ISF), a political party based in West Bengal, on Thursday, announced its eight candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state. ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique said he was ready to contest from Diamond Harbour, the seat currently represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
"I am ready to contest from the Diamond Harbour constituency and have told the high command. No final decision has been taken on that. The party has asked me to wait for some time," Siddique, who is an MLA from Bhangar, said.
There is speculation that Siddique may be fielded from Diamond Harbour and if it does happen, Abhishek Banerjee may face a tough contest in his traditional seat.
Diamond Harbour is a minority-dominated constituency and Abhishek Banerjee had won from the seat by a margin of 3.20 lakh votes in 2019. He has been holding the seat since 2014.
Meanwhile, the ISF has kept its doors open for a potential alliance with the Left parties and the Congress. Siddique said the party was hopeful for an alliance and added that seat-sharing discussions were going on. Siddique also said that the party was keen to contest from seats like Baharampur, which is currently held by West Bengal Congress chief and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Jadavpur, which is represented by actor Mimi Chakraborty.
The eight candidates fielded by the ISF are -- Md Shohel (Malda Uttar), Meghnad Haldar (Jaynagar-SC), Habib Sheikh (Murshidabad), Tapas Banerjee (Barasat), Md Shahidul Islam Mollah (Basirhat), Ajay Kumar Das (Mathurapur-SC), Shahariyan Mallik (Sreerampur) and Bapi Sahel (Jhargram-ST).
All eyes will be on Basirhat seat, which is currently represented by actor Nusrat Jahan. The actor was not given a ticket for the Lok Sabha election amid the protests in Sandeshkhali against now-arrested Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides for land grab and sexual assault.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded Haji Nurul Islam and will face off against Md Shahidul Islam Mollah.
