The BJP, on Tuesday, announced another list of candidates for 11 seats for the assembly elections in West Bengal and changed its nominees in two other constituencies. While the saffron party continued with its strategy of fielding personalities from different walks of life as it nominated former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Subrata Saha from the Rashbehari seat in South Kolkata, one name was conspicuous by its absence, that of actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty, who joined the BJP on March 7.
The BJP had earlier indicated that Rashbehari seat was set aside for the actor, who had joined the party in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
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Chakraborty had registered himself as a voter in north Kolkata, fuelling speculations that he could be contesting the polls, even as the BJP sources had clarified that a decision on his candidature would be taken by the party leadership. Chakraborty, a former TMC Rajya Sabha MP, was earlier a voter from Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the saffron party suffered an embarrassment when Sikha Mitra, wife of former state Congress president Somen Mitra, who was offered a seat from Chowranghee, and Tarun Saha, husband of TMC MLA Mala Saha, who was nominated from Kashipur- Belgachia, refused tickets saying they did not join the party.
According to the latest candidate list, former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri, who was earlier pulled out from the Alipurduar seat in north Bengal after local party workers held a protest against his candidature, will now contest from Balurghat as a BJP candidate. Lahiri was replaced with local leader Suman Kanjilal from the Alipurduar seat last week.
—With PTI inputs
