Kabir to replace Ballygunge candidate, 24 hrs after announcing Nisha Chatterjee’s name

Kolkata: A day after suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA from Bharatpur Humayun Kabir floated a new outfit — “Janata Unnayan Party” (JUP), and named eight candidates that his newly formed party will field in the 2026 Assembly elections, Kabir took a U-turn on Tuesday and announced that Nisha Chatterjee, whose name was announced, will not contest from Ballygunge.

Kabir also stated that he will announce a Muslim candidate for the Ballygunge Assembly seat within the next seven days. The suspended Trinamool Congress claimed that Chatterjee has some of her photographs on social media, which can tarnish the image of JUP.

This is why he has taken a decision to change the candidate for Ballygunge. Days after the Trinamool Congress suspended him over his decision to lay the foundation stone for a Babri-style mosque in Murshidabad, Kabir on Monday launched his new political party.

He said he would contest from two seats — Rejinagar and Beldanga, and that his mission is to oust Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the polls. He also named Manish

Pandey for Murshidabad and Nisha Chatterjee for Ballygunge. Kabir announced two of his namesakes as candidates from Bhagwangola

and Raninagar. Interestingly, while Kabir went hard at Trinamool Congress supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he praised the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee saying:

“I have a soft corner for Abhishek...He is a talented youth. 

In the coming days, he will be able to prove himself as a good politician…” Trinamool Congress, however, claimed that what it had alleged that Kabir was acting as the B-team of the BJP, found to be true after its suspended MLA heaped praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a television interview.

During the interview, Kabir also termed Modi as his “favourite” Prime Minister after Manmohan Singh. While suspending Kabir earlier this month, Trinamool Congress alleged that he was “playing into the hands of the BJP” and attempting to “instigate” people by invoking the Babri Masjid.