God, they say, helps those who help themselves. And this puja, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has helped herself to a big chunk in Kolkata’s devotion sweepstakes.

With the Marxists already on a wing and a prayer in the city, Didi has been everywhere lately — from Eid that came earlier to Durga Puja that will end on Monday, at station platforms flagging off trains and at puja pandals inaugurating them.

If the visitors to the Trinamool Congress’s congested headquarters on Harish Chatterjee Street are greeted by a photograph of Mamata head covered and offering namaaz, the party’s publication Jago Bangla this month has been printed in larger numbers, all carrying a picture of Goddess Durga on the cover sketched by the Mamata herself.

Seizing on the short-cut to a million votes, if not hearts, the Trinamool has turned the Durga Puja into its biggest PR exercise. One such puja organised by Trinamool Congress MLA Arup Biswas, under the banner of Suruchi Sangha in New Alipore, emerged as one of the biggest draws. This time the Suruchi Sangha officially spent Rs 8 lakh on the idol, with the pandal depicting a Jharkhand tribal village and showcasing how they lived in close proximity to nature.

Mamata visited the pandal, as she did many others, doing the rounds well past midnight and sometimes into the wee hours. “That’s been her routine for all these puja days,” said a party leader.

Mamata’s own brother is one of the key organisers of the Milan Sabha Puja on Harish Chatterjee Street.

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