On the occasion of the last election in 2019, the Trinamool candidate was on a sticky wicket. Astute politician that the TMC supremo is she had asked Abhishek to change his constituency and even offered him a Rajya Sabha nomination. But an unfazed Abhishek together with his followers brought off a shock victory. Post 2919 poll victory, he has gone from strength to strength.

The TMC juggernaut seemed to be unstoppable post 2021 Assembly elections victory when Mamata Banerjee led her party from the front with a gammy leg. And the Diamond Harbour MP looked forward to a smooth voyage ahead. It was at this point, the cash for teaching jobs scam broke. State education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested and vast quantity of cash recovered from his properties

As the legal battle picked momentum, more arrests of senior education department officials followed. To make things worse, Abhishek was interrogated several times by central probe agencies. Things started going from bad to worse for the ruling dispensation of West Bengal. The situation gave Opposition Congress and CPI(M) a second wind even as the ruling party stalwarts led by party supremo Mamata Banerjee raised the pitch of their protest.

On the ropes after the resounding Assembly elections reverse, BJP and Congress and Left started separate agitations against the TMC government. The saving grace for the TMC government was that the ideology came in the way of closing ranks of the Opposition parties.

During their agitation, the Left and the Congress have been dogged in their criticism of the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour. The chorus of criticism of this combine sans any representation in the state Assembly reached a new high when it was joined by that of Indian Secular Front (ISF) whose lone candidate, Naushad Siddiqui has been elected from Bhangar in South-24-Parganas.

As the chorus of condemnation against Abhishek mounted, ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui said that he would take on Banerjee in the Lok Sabha elections at Diamond Harbour. The TMC leadership was in a fix as this Lok Sabha has a considerable section of minority voters.

There arose a distinct possibility that these "deciders" who despite having voted for TMC in two successive elections may switch their loyalty to Siddiqui on the polling day. With Muslims making up nearly 40 per cent of the population of this riverside Lok Sabha constituency, Siddiqui joining the poll fray in this Lok Sabha threatened to mar the prospects of Banerjee, the TMC's national general secretary.

It seemed that an an uphill campaign lay ahead for Banerjee despite winning 2019 elections with a margin of more than three lakh votes. And to make matters worse, leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari broadly hinted Naushad would get the support of the saffron camp. But with Siddiqui fielding another ISF nominee, the election process lost the fizz it once showed an indication of acquiring. To call a spade by no other name, Banerjee will be having a cakewalk, come June 1, the election day.

The TMC nominee's competitors are BJP's Abhijit Das aka Bobby and INDIA coalition supported CPI(M) nominee Pratik-ur-Rahman. Incidentally, the BJP candidate had contested from this constituency in earlier elections. He bagged 15.92 per cent votes vis-a-vis Banerjee who obtained more than 40 per cent votes on his maiden election. Das emerged a "poor third" once the results were declared.

This time, neither the voters nor the local BJP leadership have any clue why Das has been fielded again. Given Siddiqui's "retreat" and BJP renominating a losing candidate against Abhishek, there is virtually no threat to Abhishek.

The earlier "nervousness" of the ruling dispensation when Naushad's name was doing the rounds despite having its MLAs in all the seven Assembly was not in keeping with TMC's widespread support base guaranteeing an electoral triumph. It seems TMC leadership is unwilling to take any chances risking Banerjee's political career.

Addressing a election rally at Budge Budge, Abhishek Banerjee has sought a lead of four lakh votes in the coming elections. To underscore his contention before the voters whom he called "his own", he reeled out a list of development programmes completed at Diamond Harbour during his two previous terms as it's MP.

Nilanjan Roy, the BJP candidate in 2019 election was the second runners-up followed by CPI(M) nominee, Dr Fuad Halim. Abhishek taking it easy, is campaigning for TMC candidates throughout the state. His constituency campaign is being taken care of by the TMC’s local leaders. Nobody in the opposition camp about the victory of the TMC’s number two, the question is what will be the extent of margin. (IPA Service)