The residents of Bhawanipore constituency are not alien to the problems plaguing the rest of the state and recognise the “desperation” within the state government to hold the bypolls despite Covid just so Mamata Banerjee gets to retain her chief minister position, said CPI-M candidate Srijeeb Biswas who today filed his nomination at the Survey Building.

Biswas, an Alipore Court lawyer, reached the Survey Building without any procession due to Covid-19 norms. He was accompanied by some of his party workers and looked confident in the face of media questions surrounding whether he felt hopeless in competing against Miss Banerjee.

Srijeeb though understands that facing Miss Banerjee in the polls could be a herculean challenge, is confident that it wouldn’t be a cakewalk for her either as she was defeated in Nandigram by her former cabinet minister Suvendu Adhikari.

The CPI-M candidate believes that the Bhawanipore bypoll results may just turn out to be equally shocking as the Nandigram results. He said people never thought Mamata could lose in Nandigram though most were sure of stiff competition. The invincible impression has now shattered and that is evident in the full-scale campaign efforts that the TMC has launched to gather votes for their supremo, Srijeeb felt.

He pointed out that the urgency of the TMC to hold the bypolls makes it apparent once again that there is no one in the TMC party who can dare to replace Mamata Banerjee as the chief minister. Despite the multifarious issues plaguing the people, which include a pandemic, inflation, unemployment etc, the state government decided to put all the issues aside and focus solely on the Bhawanipore bypoll, he remarked.

Commenting on whether CPI-M workers have launched campaigns with equal gusto, he said, “Our party workers are on the streets every day throughout the year helping people. We don’t need to show off before polls to gain votes since the people of Bengal have seen us stand behind them, be it during the pandemic or cyclones.”

Srijeeb, also a resident of Bhawanipore, share a cordial relation with the people, believes that every issue will be taken into account by the voters which may put the state’s ruling party in a spot of bother, he felt.