Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has explained the reason behind opting for actress-turned politician Saayoni Ghosh as the Trinamool Congress candidate from the Jadavpur constituency, which was won by Tollywood star Mimi Chakraborty five years ago, for the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking at a rally in Jadavpur, Mamata claimed Mimi was a "good girl" but she was busy with films.

Mamata said, "Mimi is a very good girl. She is a good actress. She acts really well. But she remains very busy with films. I can't ask someone to quit her profession. Despite her busy schedule, she performed all duties whenever we asked her to. She tried to work as much as she could."

The TMC supremo claimed she wanted Mimi, who resigned as the Lok Sabha MP in February this year, to contest from an alternate seat.

"Even I had asked her to contest from a different seat. I didn't drop her candidature. She is a good girl so I wish her well. But I personally wanted Saayoni as Jadavpur candidate to control some people in the constituency," Mamata, who defeated CPI-M stalwart Somnath Chatterjee in her first electoral contest in 1984 from Jadavpur, said.

"Saayoni will be able to fight fiercely," she added.

On February 15, Mimi, who won from Jadavpur by a mammoth margin, went to the state assembly in Kolkata to submit her resignation.

Speaking to reporters outside the assembly, Mimi said, "Definitely I have resigned. My resignation is not accepted by the Chief Minister. She said 'she will take care of everything'. I have executed what I had in my mind.

"I have always maintained that I joined politics to become a leader or a politician but a worker to serve people. But I can work for people even without politics. But Didi hasn't accepted and I don't know whether she will accept or not."

When Mimi was asked whether she had differences with local TMC leaders, "Yeah... with the local leadership."

Interestingly, TMC has never repeated its candidate for Lok Sabha polls since 2009. But the party has won on all occasions.

Saayoni, who joined the TMC in 2021, had unsuccessfully contested from Asansol Dakshin, which was won by Bharatiya Janata Party's Agnimitra Paul.

Jadavpur will go to polls in the seventh and final phase of elections on June 1.