Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee uses statue to campaign in 'scorching Bengal heat'

Election campaigning during Indian summer can get tough. And when the going gets tough, chill like Abhishek Banerjee. Trinamool Congress candidate and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew’s innovative campaign idea in West Bengal’s scorching heat has caught the fancy of tweeples. A video of Abhishek Banerjee campaigning in an open jeep as his supporters raise slogans is doing the rounds. However, what is hard to miss is that it is Banerjee’s statue, with garlands around its neck and folded hands, that stands mounted on an open jeep with supporters raising slogans for him.

Banerjee, the sitting MP from the Diamond Harbour constituency, is contesting against BJP's Nilanjan Roy and CPI(M)'s Faud Halim from the same seat this Lok Sabha elections.

However, Banerjee’s supporters said that the statue was used by TMC supporters for the campaign because of the lack of time Abhishek to campaign in the constituency. 

The video, tweeted by one Rishi Bagree, was shared by Member of Parliament Swapan Dasgupta. In the tweet, Bagree alleges that Abhishek Banerjee, MP from Diamond Harbour constituency, allegedly used the statue to avoid the summer heat.

To avoid scorching heat, TMC Diamond Harbour Candidate & Mamata's Nephew Abhishek Banerjee found an innovative solution
- Using his own statute for Campaigning 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/ZaRAG55gcZ

— 💂 Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) April 26, 2019

Abhishek Banerjee, who last week filed his nomination papers and submitted affidavit at the time show a 200 per cent rise in his assents as compared to that he declared in 2014. He declared his movable assets at Rs 71.40 lakh, as against around Rs 23.57 lakh declared in 2014.

Banerjee was recently in the news when in March when customs officials at the Kolkata international airport held his wife, Rujira Naroola for carrying excess gold without a declaration. He had then refuted reports that his wife was caught at the Kolkata airport, adding that the complaint filed by the customs authorities alleging interference and obstruction was "highly politically motivated".