Raiganj, March 11 -- The day after his name was formally announced, Krishna Kalyani, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate of the Raiganj Parliamentary constituency flagged off his election campaign with a grand rally in Raiganj on Monday. From Tuesday, he has a programme to start his election campaign in rural belts also.

Till now, no TMC candidate has won from this constituency. In 2019, Kanaiyalal Agarwal, TMC candidate was defeated by Debasree Chaudhuri, the BJP candidate but the situation went in the favour of TMC after 2021 Assembly elections.

TMC candidates won in five Assembly seats, including Islampur, Goalpokhar, Chakulia, Karandighi and Hemtabad while BJP won two seats - Raiganj and Kaliyaganj - out of total seven Assembly seats under Raiganj Parliamentary constituency. Krishna Kalyani, an industrialist as well as social worker, in the last Assembly election, had contested from Raiganj seat with a BJP ticket and was victorious. He then joined TMC. This year TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee projected him from Raiganj to capture this seat. As an industrialist he has provided jobs to hundreds of youth in Raiganj, Kaliyaganj and Hemtabad Assembly segments.

Krishna Kalyani said: "Inspired by the developmental activities of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in 2022 I joined TMC. I am confident that I will be able to win from Raiganj with a huge margin. Now our organisation has become stronger in Raiganj Parliamentary constituency in the last five years. In the 2021 Assembly elections, we captured five seats out of seven. Our members in all places of the constituency serve people at the grassroots level."

"Each MLA every year can spend Rs 70 lakh from his Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prokalpa (BEUP) fund for the development of his constituency. Being an MLA Raiganj, in the last three years I spent around Rs 97 crore for the development of my Assembly constituency," he added.

"Former BJP MP failed to bring about development so people demanded a local candidate from Raiganj seat. Considering the hope and aspiration of local people, I was made a candidate. So I believe people would bless me," Kalyani said.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.