The speculation doing the rounds in his Kharda constituency is that West Bengal finance minister and senior CPI(M) leader Asim Dasgupta will meet his match in this Assembly election.
As a masterstroke, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has pitted a noted economist and Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra, against Mr Dasgupta. It is virtually confirmed that she will project him as the fut-ure state finance minister.
Dr Gupta is erudite, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained Communist leader who had been state finance minister since 1987. Mr Mitra did his Masters from Delhi School of Economics, attained the Doctorate Degree in Economics from Duke University, USA, and taught in major US universities.
If Mr Dasgupta was worried, he did not show it on Saturday when he extensively campaigned in the Rabindrapally-Surya Sen Nagar area in Kharda constituency. “Everybody in Kharda knows Asim da,” Priyanka Das, a housewife said. “He is unassuming and accessible,” she added.
But Kaushik, who did not reveal his last name, said that Mr Dasgupta had been the state finance minister for over two decades but had done little for unemployed youth.
“We have launched several employment-generating projects and given jobs to thousands of youth. Besi-des, 14 lakh self-help gro-ups have also created work for the jobless. Our work is not yet over. We will continue to explore more ave-nues for employment generation,” Mr Dasgupta said.