Though written off as a non-serious entrant into the poll arena of Uttar Pradesh, Trinamul Congress is confident of opening its account in the Hindi heartland. After giving much headache to the Congress on a number of issues, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress is confident of stunning the UPA ally RLD in the Mat Assembly seat where civil aviation minister Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Choudhary is in the fray.
“We will surely win the Mat Assembly seat in Mathura against RLD’s Jayant. Our candidate Shyam Sundar Sharma, who has been a six time MLA from the area, will surely give us the first win in UP,” said Mr Sultan Ahmed, Trinamul Congress’ election in-charge for UP.
The Trinamul Congress also appears to have high hope from the terai area of Pilibhit, which is considered to be the den of the BJP. The West Bengal tourism minister Rachpal Singh, an ex-IPS officer and hailing from the Sikh community, which has significant voter base in Pilibhit area has been camping there to boost the prospects of the party candidates.
Though Ms Banerjee has stayed away from campaigning in UP, Mr Ahmed said that “Didi’s photograph is enough”. “We are contesting the UP elections on the slogan of parivartan (change) and clean image of our chief minister,” said Mr Ahmed.
To boost the party candidate’s prospect against RLD in Mat, the Union railways minister Dinesh Trivedi, Mr Ahmed and a number of party MPs have campaigned there. The Trinamul Congress has also brought the glamour in UP campaigning with film stars turned MPs, Tapas Pal and Shatabdi Roy, having addressed people at a number of places in the state. The party also brought in former stars Padmini Kolhapuri and Poonam Dhillon to canvass for the party candidates.