Eyeing fresh term in LS from Asansol, TMC’s ‘Shotgun’ sets the bar higher

Asansol (West Bengal) [India], April 5 (ANI): Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who was renominated by the ruling TMC from the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, said on Friday he would try to ensure an even bigger margin of victory than what he recorded in the previous bypoll.

Being fielded from Asansol for the 2022 bypoll after former Union Minister Babul Supriyo resigned as a two-time MP and joined the TMC, Sinha trounced BJP’s Agnimitra Paul by over 3 lakh votes.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the sitting MP said, “I consider myself to be fortunate (to have been fielded again from Asansol). It’s because of your love and affection that I was renominated from this constituency and am still talked about across the country. It was down to my dedication, hard work and frequent visits to my constituency that (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee put me on the ticket again from Asansol.”

“I even took part in all the festivals here,” the actor-turned-politician, nicknamed ‘Shotgun’, added.

“Mamata Didi said there would be no change of candidate for the Asansol seat and it would be contested by none other than Shatrughan Sinha. She also mentioned how I registered a landslide win in the bypoll (in 2022),” Sinha added.

Hopeful of bettering his bypoll harvest, the actor-turned-politician said, “I am hoping to break the record that I set last time.”

Meanwhile, the ruling party in the state released a list of star campaigners for Phase 2 of polling for the Lok Sabha on April 26.

Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Shatrughan Sinha, Kalyan Banerjee, Aroop Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Firhad Hakim, Moloy Ghatak, Dr Manas Ranjan Bhunia Arpita Ghosh, Bratya Basu, Babul Supriyo Deepak Adhikari (Dev), Dr Shashi Panja, Satabdi Roy, Mamata Thakur, Manoj Tiwary, Partha Bhowmick, Tanmoy Ghosh, Snehasis Chakraborty, Birbaha Hansda, Ritabrata Banerjee, Ambarish Sarkar, Ashima Patra, Kunal Ghosh, Saayoni Ghosh, and June Maliah feature in the TMC’s list of star campaigners for polling on April 26.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI(M) won 2 seats while the Congress bagged 4.

However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC’s 22. The Congress’s tally dropped to just 2 seats while the Left scored a blank.

Polling for the Lok Sabha in Bengal will take place across all 7 phases, starting April 19. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4.