Bengal panchayat polls: Saayoni Ghosh missing from Trinamool's list of star campaigners

Kolkata, July 1 (IANS) The name of party’s state youth wing president Saayoni Ghosh is missing from the Trinamool Congress's list of star campaigners for the July 8 West Bengal Panchayat polls.

A question being discussed in the corridors of power and political circles is whether the development is a coincidence or is a fallout of Ghosh's 11-hour interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths in the multi-crore school recruitment case.

Ghosh has been summoned again by ED for a second round of questioning on July 5.

Apparently, Ghosh’s name figured in the list of star campaigners till June 28 and she participated in the campaigning schedule.

She, as well as other star campaigners, took a campaign break on Thursday because of the Eid-Ul-Adha festival.

On Friday also, she could not take part owing to her scheduled appearance at the ED office at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Now, the fresh list of “star campaigners” released by the party on Saturday morning with Ghosh’s name missing has led to speculations on whether the first indication of the party leadership starting the process of distancing itself from her.

The campaign phase for the polls for the three- tier panchayat system is scheduled to end at 5 p.m.on July 6, 2023, which is just a day after Ghosh’s second scheduled visit at ED office. So it is uncertain whether she will at all take part in the campaign process in any of the days in between.

While emerging from the ED office at around 11 p.m. on Friday, Ghosh told media persons that she had 100 per cent cooperation.

"They asked for some documents which I have already submitted. If they call me again I will appear. If necessary I will stay here for 24 hours and cooperate,” Ghosh said.