"It is the Congress which has always got the media's blessings. The BJP often gets very bad press. (BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra) Modi has often been demonised in the media...BJP is too liberal."
Mitra, contesting his first direct election, bitterly complains about the intolerance of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress, which has been tearing off BJP posters. Attacking Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, he says: "Her style of functioning has always been intolerant. Now power has made her even more intolerant. Her philosophy is if you are not with us, than you are against us."
The discussion veers to the "intolerance" being shown by some BJP leaders like Giriraj Singh, who said those opposing Modi should be sent to Pakistan.
"Obviously, I don't subscribe to such views. But the comments have been made by a state level leader. I don't want to comment on that. BJP is not intolerant," says Mitra, sitting in the sprawling old-world drawing room of his ancestral home in this town, about 60 km from Kolkata.
In the fray from a seat where the BJP had bagged less than four percent votes in 2009, Mitra says: "Things are different this time. I have come here to win. Trinamool has become unpopular." Trinamool candidate Ratna Dey Nag is the sitting MP.
