Bhabanipur bypoll: Hardeep Puri embarks on door-to-door campaign for Priyanka Tibrewal

Amid intensified rallying for the upcoming Bhabanipur bypolls, Union Minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday undertook a door-to-door campaign for the party's candidate Priyanka Tibrewal, who will compete against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on September 30.

Speaking of Priyanka Tibrewal's chances of defeating the TMC Supremo, Union Minister Hardeep Puri said that the reason Mamata Banerjee was taking this election seriously was that she lost to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the Assembly polls. 

"According to my experience in politics, when you start this political campaign, you start with the assumption that the sitting Chief Minister will come again. If it is true then why are TMC taking this election so seriously? Because according to the recent election, Suvendhu Adkari was successful in the May 2021 polls but not TMC," the Minister told the media.

The BJP candidate expressed her gratitude to the senior leader for campaigning for her and sought his blessings. 

Commenting on the TMC's campaigning, Tibrewal said, "Despite being in power for 15 years, Mamata had to send cabinet ministers for aggressive door-to-door campaigning in the poll-bound region. Mamata is asking every cabinet minister which house they went to and which they didn't".

BJP, TMC lock horns ahead of Bhabanipur by-polls

Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram assembly constituency during the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year. Following this, the Bhabanipur assembly seat was vacated by West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for the Chief Minister to contest from the seat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress are major competitors in the upcoming Bhabanipur by-polls as Congress has decided not to field any candidate. Following the filing of nomination papers by the party candidates, including CM Mamata Banerjee, several reports of clashes between the two parties have surfaced. Polling will be held on September 30 and results will be declared by October 3. The by-polls come at a time when the investigation over the violence caused after the last assembly election is still being carried out in the state.

(With inputs from agency)