Chief concern

Trinamool Congress (TMC) functionary and die-hard Mamata Banerjee loyalist Subrata Bakshi is an anxious man in the run-up to the Lok Sabha by-election for the South Kolkata seat due on Tuesday. His party chief Banerjee, who has held the seat since 1991, has decided not to leave anything to chance and is campaigning hard on his behalf — despite the fact that Bakshi is the obvious favourite. Bakshi is worried, a TMC leader said, because Banerjee won the seat by a margin of 200,000 and he does not want to face the embarrassment of besting his chief’s achievement. Since Bakshi obviously cannot confide his fears to the hard-working and authoritarian didi, he is hoping a low turn-out will save him.