Deepa Dasmunshi to take on Mamata in Bhowanipore

The Congress on Friday fielded former union minister Deepa Dasmunshi, wife of ailing party leader Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, as its candidate from Bhowanipore in south Kolkata against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the forthcoming assembly polls.

Dasmunsi, a minister of state for urban development during the United Progressive Alliance II, was among the 42 candidates for the multi-phase polls whose names were announced on Friday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose as its candidate from Bhowanipore.

The development, however, came as something of an anti-climax for state Congress spokesperson Om Prakash Mishra. He had started campaigning in Bhowanpore after state party chief Adhir Chowdhury's observations at a media meet last week that Mishra would be the Congress candidate from the prestigious seat.

However, Mishra said he would actively campaign for the party and Left Front nominees across the state, and wished "grand success" for Dasmunshi.

The animosity between Banerjee and Dasmunshi, a former Lok Sabha member, is well known.

One of the top woman leaders of the Congress in the state, Dasmunshi reportedly agreed to contest from Bhowanipore after a request from party chief Sonia Gandhi.

The other prominent names in the list include Abdul Mannan from Champdani in Hooghly district, Amitava Chakraborty from Shyampur in Howrah district, Arunava Ghosh from Bdhannagar in North 24 Parganas and Sankar Singh from Ranahghat Uttar Paschim in Nadia district.

The party earlier announced candidates for 43 seats.