Kolkata: In the end, star power seems to have worked for Trinamool Congress that had fielded actors, theatre personalities and professionals to launch a charm offensive in West Bengal to counter traditional Left thinkers in the Assembly election.
As the day progressed it became clear that the queen of Bengali cinema in the 90s, Debashree Roy, was poised to defeat Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly in Raidighi. Roy had been the party's glamorous face during campaigning and spoken vociferously against the Left policies in its three-decade rule in the state.
Meanwhile, TMC's star arsenal this assembly election - actor Chiranjeet Chakroborty - defeated Sanjib Chattopadhaya of the All India Forward Bloc by a comfortable margin of 40211 votes in the Barasat constituency.
In a major upset for the Left, theatre personality Bratya Basu of Trinamool defeated housing minister and the star campaigner for the Left Gautam Deb by a margin of 31497 in the Dum Dum constituency.
The Trinamool bandwagon also comprised renowned singer Anup Ghoshal, who lent his voice to evergreen songs of Satyajit Ray's popular 'Goopy Bagha' series of films.
He is poised to win against Left candidate Sruthinath Praharaj from Hoogly district's Uttarpara constituency.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Front, facing its stiffest electoral challenge since 1977, had not fielded any artist in the poll fray unlike in the previous years. But it banked on pro-Left intellectuals and artists who have stood by the party even in the worst times.
Comments
0 comment