Arjun Singh, the BJP candidate for Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, on Friday visited Trinamool Congress veteran Mukul Roy and sought his blessings for the polls. Roy, who is suffering from dementia and Parkinson's disease, has been inactive in politics and does not hold any portfolio or play any active role in the party at present. Singh, who recently quit the TMC and returned to the BJP, which he had joined before the 2019 polls after leaving the ruling party in the state, said he respects Roy and hence, sought his blessings for the elections.
Roy, who had also joined the BJP before returning to the TMC, had worked together with Singh as political workers. Singh said Roy recognised him and wished him luck, while he wished a long life for the TMC veteran. "I sought his blessings for the polls," Singh said. Roy had served as the railway minister and Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry in the second UPA government, of which the Trinamool Congress was a part.
He quit the TMC in 2017 due to disagreements with the party leadership and joined the BJP, before returning to the ruling party in the state in 2021. Singh had also recently visited former CPI(M) MP of Barrackpore, Tarit Baran Topdar, at his residence and acknowledged his contributions to the development of Barrackpore. TMC candidate for the seat, Partha Bhowmick, had also called on Topdar, who was an influential politician in the jute industrial belt.
West Bengal Elections 2024
West Bengal is scheduled to go to polls in all seven phases of the upcoming general elections. The results will be declared on June 4. West Bengal is the state with the third highest number of states with 42 Lok Sabha seats, only behind Uttar Pradesh with 80 and Maharashtra with 48, and all the seats are typically contested over different issues rather than one common mantra. Notably, out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, 30 seats are contested as unreserved seats, while 10 seats are reserved for SC candidates and two seats are reserved for ST candidates.
(With input from PTI)
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