Left partners in seat tussle

TT, Alipurduar, March 30: The CPM has decided to back an Independent in Kalchini, the result of a tussle with its partner RSP that has fielded a candidate in Alipurduar against an alliance-backed Congress nominee.

The battle of nerves between the Left partners over the two Alipurduar district seats reflects the difficulty on the ground in some areas to fix candidates although senior leaders of the CPM and the Congress have requested cadres to campaign for each other's parties.

Both the RSP and the CPM have cited Left Front chairman Biman Bose's earlier decision that Independents would be backed by the alliance in the two seats.

However, later the Congress and the CPM came to a consensus that Biswaranjan Sarkar of the Congress should be the candidate for the alliance as he has the strongest chance of beating Trinamul. The Congress had won Alipurduar in 2011.

The RSP said the Congress candidate was unacceptable to them and fielded Nirmal Das. It said the CPM had disobeyed the Front's decision.

Alipurduar district RSP secretary Sunil Banik said today: "It was disappointing that the CPM flouted the state Left Front's decision and extended support to the Congress in Alipurduar. The move will affect unity in the Front."

#Today, the CPM said it would back Independent candidate Biswajit Minj in Kalchini as this too was the instruction of Bose. It pointed out that the RSP had ignored Bose's decision and fielded John Philip Xalxo from there.

"The Left Front chairman (Biman Bose) had said an Independent would be backed in Kalchini. But the RSP fielded a candidate. We are going ahead with the state-level decision and will support an Independent," said Krishna Banerjee, the Alipurduar district CPM secretary.

The last date for withdrawing nominations is April 1.

The Congress, which has a sizeable support in Kalchini, has fielded Abhijit Narjinary.

Sarkar, the alliance's Alipurduar candidate, today said he would request the CPM and the RSP to bury their differences as "this will only help Trinamul".

In 2011, Wilson Champramary, an Independent backed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, won Kalchini. He later joined Trinamul and is its candidate from the seat.