Assembly polls: BJP rebels to contest in 4 West Midnapore seats

Both the dissidents and the official candidates will file their nominations on Tuesday

A poster that demands change of the BJP candidate in the Bankura Assembly seat.-Rupesh Khan

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar & Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT   |   Calcutta, Bankura   |   9.03.21 : A group of BJP old-timers in West Midnapore district has decided to field Independents in four Assembly constituencies, claiming that the party’s nominees are “unpopular”.

Both the dissidents and the official candidates will file their nominations on Tuesday.

“We have decided to field Independents in Garbeta, Salboni, Midnapore and Kharagpur Assembly constituencies. The candidates fielded by the party in these seats are new in politics and do not enjoy the confidence of the people,” said Pradip Lodha, former vice-president of the BJP’s West Midnapore organisational district. Lodha will contest from Garbeta as an Independent.

“Our decision will only strengthen Narendra Modi and Dilip Ghosh’s vision of a new Bengal,” Lodha said, hinting that if the candidates fielded by the dissidents won, they would back the BJP.

The development has gained significance in the backdrop of the scepticism expressed by a group of state BJP leaders that there would be multiple instances of factional feud in the party after candidate lists are announced.

“This is just the beginning and only 57 out of 294 names have been announced. The cracks within the party will widen once all candidates are declared,” a state BJP office-bearer said.

The likes of Lodha, Dhiman Koley, BJP’s former president for West Midnapore and the dissident candidate from Salboni, members of the Hindu Mahasabha, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagaran Manch and representatives of the Kurmi community held a meeting on March 7 and floated the Samanway Manch or Coordination Forum. It was decided at the meeting that the dissidents would contest the polls under this forum’s banner.

“The party announced the list of candidates in the evening of March 6. The dissatisfaction has been brewing since then and hardly any BJP worker from our district took party in (Narendra) Modi’s rally in Calcutta yesterday (Sunday). That made us field our own candidates in the four seats. Otherwise, the party would suffer,” Lodha said.

The BJP has fielded Madan Ruidas at Garbeta, Rajib Kundu at Salboni, Tapan Bhuiya at Kharagpur and Shamit Dash at Midnapore. Dash is the present West Midnapore district chief of the BJP.

Dissidents alleged that Dash was to blame for the feud. Dash has allegedly helped his close associates, including Ruidas, an employee at his shop, get the tickets.

Although the district BJP leadership claimed that the problem had been resolved, the dissidents denied any such development. “A problem had emerged. However, the dissidents met our district president and everything has been sorted now,” said Shankar Guchhait, the BJP district general secretary.

According to Lodha, if the dissidents don’t field candidates, a large section of BJP votes will shift to the CPM and ultimately, Trinamul will be benefited.

“The support that the party enjoys in Midnapore is primarily because of the traditional Left votes that had shifted to us,” Lodha said.

“The CPM has fielded two heavyweights, Susanta Ghosh and Tapan Ghosh, in the district and the BJP’s candidates are weak,” Lodha said.

Apart from Lodha and Dhiman Koley, the other two dissident BJP candidates are Jayanta Chatterjee and Pashupati Deb Singha. Deb Singha is a Kurmi and hence will be well accepted by the community which has a major poll share in the Midnapore Assembly seat, the dissidents feel.

“We are fielding two candidates in the Midnapore Assembly seat and hope the people will choose the best option,” a source in the dissident group said. The candidate for Kharagpur is yet to be decided.

In Bankura, BJP leaders face a similar predicament with party workers putting up posters to show their dissent with the official choice of candidates in at least two of the district’s 12 constituencies — Bankura and Taldangra.

In Bankura, the BJP has fielded Niladri Shekhar Dana, a councillor in Bankura municipality, and Trinamul turncoat Shyamal Sarkar for the Taldangra Assembly.

Sources said there were two more aspirants for the Bankura seat but Dana was given the ticket. BJP insiders said the candidate choice was wrong as Trinamul has fielded popular actress Sayantika Banerjee in Bankura.

“Change Niladri Dana as a candidate... We are not ready to accept Niladri Dana,” read one of dozens of posters apparently put up by disgruntled BJP supporters in Bankura town.

In Taldangra, the names of two senior party leaders, including BJP’s district president Vivekananda Patra, were doing the rounds but the ticket was given to “outsider” Shyamal Sarkar, who is from Khatra.

“The BJP candidate of Taldangra is an outsider and the people of Taldangra is not ready to accept him,” the poster said claiming that Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar was trying to keep his control on Taldangra and Simlapal by making Trinamul turncoats victorious,” a poster says.

BJP president in Bankura Vivekananda Patra said: “There is no connection of the BJP with these posters. At both the places, Trinamul has done it as the party smells defeat in all the 12 seats.”

However, Trinamul’s spokesperson Dilip Agrawal said: “The infighting in the BJP has come out in the open. Trinamul has nothing to do with the posters.”