Kolkata: Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress national general secretary, will campaign for his party's nominees in Ballygunge Assembly seat and Asansol Lok Sabha constituency for the forthcoming by-election.
The bypolls will be held on April 12. Babul Supriyo is contesting from Ballygunge Assembly seat that fell vacant following the death of Subrata Mukherjee, the state minister for Panchayats and Rural Development department. Asansol Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Babul resigned as BJP MP and joined Trinamool.
It was learnt that Abhishek will take part in a road show either on April 6 or 7. The date of his campaign in Asansol is yet to be fixed.
The first phase of campaigning came to an end due to the Higher Secondary examination which will begin on April 2. The second phase will start on April 6 and is likely to continue till April 10.
Babul Supriyo held a workers' conference in Ballygunge on Friday morning. He is trying out all possibilities to ensure victory. He visited the houses and answered queries raised by some local residents. He also took part in cricket matches, organised by local youths.
In Asansol, Trinamool nominee Shatrughan Sinha has taken part in road shows. Though BJP had won the Lok Sabha election in 2014 and 2019, since 2021 Assembly elections, there has been a massive erosion of the BJP vote bank. The party candidates got only seven out of 106 seats in Asansol Municipal Corporation.
The infighting in BJP has come out in the open after candidate Agnimitra Paul, the party MLA from Asansol South, complained against the party's organisational weaknesses.
BJP supporters owing allegiance are not working seriously for the candidate because Paul had vehemently opposed Jitendra Tiwari's nomination in the Assembly election in 2021.