BJP takes swipe at TMC over presence of 'outsiders' in its Lok Sabha candidates' list

The BJP on Sunday took a swipe at West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress over its list of Lok Sabha candidates, saying it is "full" of what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calls "outsiders". "Yusuf Pathan, the TMC's Baharampur candidate, is from Baroda in Gujarat or West Bengal? The TMC list is full of what Mamata Banerjee calls 'bohiragotos (outsiders)'," Amit Malviya, the BJP's West Bengal co-in-charge said in a post on X.

"Shame on her divisive politics, which is holding back West Bengal," he added.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday ended speculation of a possible seat adjustment with the Congress in West Bengal by unveiling its candidates' list for all 42 Lok Sabha seats.


Former cricketer Pathan has been nominated from Baharampur, historically a stronghold of the Congress' state unit chief and five-term MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who won the Asansol seat in a bypoll on a TMC ticket in 2022, has been re-nominated.

Kirti Azad, a former cricketer and party leader, has been nominated from Bardhaman-Durgapur, previously lost to the BJP in 2019.

Malviya noted that several of the TMC candidates have a background with the BJP and asked if the party doesn't have enough candidates of its own.

"Of them, Shatrughan Sinha, Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan are bohiragotos. The TMC didn't find enough sons of the soil to field," he added.