It was 5:15 pm on 28th October 2020 when I told Dr Shashi Panja, “You will see a massive payback in the election results next year for all the good work done by Didi in West Bengal and that I have had the pleasure and opportunity of studying over the years”. Dr Shashi Panja was even then the Cabinet Minister for the Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal and the occasion was the Valedictory of 67th SKOCH Summit.
By SAMEER KOCHHAR
It was 5:15 pm on 28th October 2020 when I told Dr Shashi Panja, “You will see a massive payback in the election results next year for all the good work done by Didi in West Bengal and that I have had the pleasure and opportunity of studying over the years”. Dr Shashi Panja was even then the Cabinet Minister for the Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal and the occasion was the Valedictory of 67th SKOCH Summit.
Cut to February 2021, in a candid discussion with a non-BJP Chief Minister, we agreed that Didi will head for a landslide and the desertions from TMC would actually take away whatever anti-incumbency has been there. Both these conversations were prophetic.
Over the years, I have been quite upfront about my admiration for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She too has been generous in Tweeting acknowledgements about the SKOCH Awards won by her administration.
