BJP fields newbie Sharadwat Mukherjee in Bidhannagar, to take on Sujit Bose

KOLKATA: Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee, who is contesting for the first time from the Bidhannagar Constituency on a BJP ticket, said he will follow the party’s decisions and directives after his name was announced as the candidate.

Mukherjee will be pitted against TMC MLA Sujit Bose in Bidhannagar.

“I am not able to say right now what my campaign will focus on, as I am new. Whatever my leadership tells me, I will follow all directives,” Mukherjee said. A clinical oncologist associated with various private nursing homes in the city, Mukherjee joined the RSS in 2016–17. Since then, he has been a dedicated worker, taking on various organisational responsibilities alongside his professional commitments.

A graduate of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital in 1992, Mukherjee had been interested in politics since his student days and actively participated in student politics. In 1998, he completed his MD from the same institution and worked for two years at the Calcutta National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Hazra. He later left CNCI and began practising as a clinical oncologist at various private nursing homes.

Mukherjee said he has been an ardent supporter of the RSS since childhood and wanted to join the BJP as its ideology aligns with his own. “I was surprised when my name appeared on the list. I thank my leadership for placing their faith in me,” he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its second list of 111 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections, intensifying the contest with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) across all 294 seats in the state. According to the list, Rekha Patra has been fielded from Hingalganj (SC), Kalyan Chakraborty from Khardaha and Roopa Ganguly from Sonarpur Dakshin. The party has also nominated Nisith Pramanik from Mathabhanga, Shankar Adhikari from Chopra, Koustav Bagchi from Barrackpore, and Arup Choudhury from Kamarhati. Among other key names, Priyanka Tibrewal will contest from Entally, while Tapas Roy has been fielded from Maniktala.

The second list builds on the BJP’s earlier announcement of 144 candidates. In the first list, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was named from Nandigram, where he defeated Mamata Banerjee in 2021, as well as from Bhowanipore, currently represented by the TMC chief.

Other candidates announced earlier include BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul from Asansol Dakshin, actor-turned-politician Rudranil Ghosh from Shibpur and Bankim Chandra Ghosh from Chakdaha.