Speculation are rife that there will be a possible clash between two Bollywood giants in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. This after the TMC chairperson announced the name of Shatrughan Sinha as the party candidate from Asansol. During her announcement, the MP from Asansol Sharughan Sinha was present in the meeting.

Yesterday, in a crucial meeting with leaders of West Burdwan held at Red Road in Kolkata, Miss Mamata Banerjee announced the name of Asansol sitting MP Shatrughan Sinha as the TMC candidate for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat. Thus Shatrughan Sinha has become the first candidate to be named to contest the 2024 Lok sabha polls from any political party.

In the April 2022 by-elections for Asansol Lok Sabha seat, Mr Sinha had defeated the BJP candidate, Agnimitra Paul over a margin of three lakh votes, thus the TMC wrested this seat for the first time. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, PM Narendra Modi had urged the voters of Asansol to select Babul Supriyo, the popular Bollywood singer.

“Mujhe parliament mein Babul chahiye,” he had famously said. Babul Supriyo was made the Union minister of state later and again in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he defeated Moon Moon Sen of the TMC by a margin of over 1.97 lakh votes. But he resigned in 2021 and later joined the TMC and became a MLA and later a state minister. Sources said two local leaders, Agnimitra Paul, Asansol South MLA and former Asansol Municipal Corporation (AMC) mayor Jitendra Tiwari have been working very hard to get a ticket.

But most likely Agnimitra Paul will replace Surendar Singh Ahluwalia as the BJP candidate for the Durgapur-Burdwan Lok Sabha seat. Speculation is rife that after this announcement by Didi, BJP is under pressure and most likely actor Mithun Chakraborty will be pitted against the Bihari babu for the Asansol seat. If this happens, pundits feel Asansol seat will be one of the most eagerly watched in the LS polls.

PM Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda want to win the Asansol seat which has now become a prestige battle after Babul Supriyo left the party and the loss in the byelection. Asansol is a cosmopolitan city and about 30 per cent are non-Bengali voters and nearly 30 per cent are minority voters