BJP Plays Royal Card Against Mahua Moitra In WB Lok Sabha Polls; Names Rajmata Amrita Roy As Krishnanagar Candidate – News18

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be leaving no stone unturned to silence one of its fiercest critics, Mahua Moitra. While Trinamool Congress candidate West Bengal’s Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat remains embroiled in controversy over the cash-for-query case, BJP has fielded a literal royal against her.

In its fifth list of candidates comprising 111 names released on Sunday, BJP named Amrita Roy, the Rajmata of the ‘Rajbari‘ (Bengali term for royal palace) of Krishnanagar, as its candidate from the constituency. Roy, who belongs to the Nadia royal family, joined the party last week.

Poll experts believe Roy’s candidature will help the BJP put up a strong fight against Moitra, as the Nadia royal family is cherished in the eastern state even today, thanks to the legacy of Maharaja Krishna Chandra Roy’s 55-year rule before British rule.

For locals, Roy is a familiar yet influential face, which could help the BJP gain force in Krishnanagar.

However, BJP’s battle won’t be easy as TMC has held the seat since 2009, when Tapas Paul took it off the CPIM, which ruled the state unchallenged from 1971 to 1999. Experts believe the Left and the Congress are unlikely to be a contender in this election too, leaving a straight fight between Moitra and the Rajmata.

Moita, 49, won the Krishnanagar constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after Mamata Banerjee’s party denied ticket to Paul, who was in jail for 13 months in connection with the Rs 17,000-crore Rose Valley chit-fund scam. The former investment banker, in her maiden Lok Sabha election, defeated BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey by a massive margin of 63,218.

Since then, she has not looked by and emerged as one of the saffron party’s staunchest critics, with impassioned speeches in Parliament and sharply worded jabs on social media.

Moitra suffered a little setback when she was expelled from Lok Sabha on charges of corruption some four months back. However, her party has rallied firmly to her side, with Mamata Banerjee calling her sacking a “murder of democracy”