UPDATED: January 17, 2021 09:53 IST
Shaky vote bank: File picture of Mamata Banerjee at an Id rally in Kolkata(Photo: Debajyoti Chakraborty/Getty Images)
It was the end of May 2019. The BJP s aggressive campaign against Mamata Banerjee s appeasement politics bore fruit as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost 12 seats in the parliamentary election to wind up with a reduced tally of just 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. Hardly had the West Bengal chief minister got time to adjust to the new reality of the BJP becoming her chief challenger than a seemingly innocuous question at a post-results press conference on whether she ll attend Iftaar parties threw her into a temper. I appease Muslims, no? she said. I ll go there a hundred times. Je goru doodh dei tar lathi-o khete hoi (I am willing to be kicked by a cow that gives milk). Nothing, she made it clear, would stop her from changing her stance towards a community that had fetched her rich political dividend. Of
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TMC representatives argue that MIM will not be able to break into the Muslim votes. Reasons: MIM will only get support of the Urdu-speaking Muslims in West Bengal who have migrated from UP and Bihar and are confined to urban areas. January 09, 2021 / 04:09 PM IST
In her four decades long political career, Banerjee has witnessed many ups and downs. Born in the year 1955, in Kolkata, Mamata started participating in political activities at the young age of 15. She lost her father at a young age and belonged to a lower middle-class family. However, she did not let any of it come in the way of her education and earned a degree in law as well as education studies. Besides, Mamata also developed her oratory and is known for her fiery speeches. (Image: Reuters)
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The AIMIM made a debut in the Bihar Assembly through the Kishanganj bypoll in October last year. Like Bihar, Owaisi has been working in West Bengal for quite some time. The AIMIM is gearing up for its new mission for which the party held its first meeting with its Bengal unit in Hyderabad on Saturday.
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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. (Photo: PTI)
Bihar gave Asaduddin Owaisi a high five in the recently concluded Assembly elections, sending five All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislators to its House. From Bihar, Owaisi hopes to catapult his success into West Bengal where a high-stakes electoral battle is coming up.