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Bengal polls: CPM veteran, ex-follower in close contest in Siliguri
Darjeeling district’s CPI(M) leaders, such as Saman Pathak, a former Rajya Sabha member maintain that their party has an advantage over others.
Unlike other assembly seats in north Bengal, where the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls has led to a bipolar contest between the saffron camp and Trinamool Congress (TMC), Asok Bhattacharya, one of the senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPI(M), continues to occupy political space in Siliguri, the biggest town in the region.
Bhattacharya, who served as Bengal’s urban development and municipal affairs minister for 20 years during the Left era and was also elected mayor of Siliguri during the TMC regime, is contesting against BJP’s Shankar Ghosh, who was a prominent CPI(M) youth front leader till he switched sides before the polls and figured among followers of the Left veteran. The TMC has fielded its spokesperson, Om Prakash Mishra, a professor of political science at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University.
Darjeeling district’s CPI(M) leaders, such as Saman Pathak, a former Rajya Sabha member maintain that their party has an advantage over others.
“Ghosh and Mishra are no match to Bhattacharya. Siliguri voters have proved time and again that they are against the TMC and BJP,” said Pathak.
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The Left Front won the Siliguri Municipal Corporation election in 2015 and Bhattacharya became the city mayor. A year later, Bhattacharya, who lost the 2011 assembly election from Siliguri, wrested the seat which he had won four times in a row during the Left era.
Political observers feel that this year the battle is going to be tough for Bhattacharya who was minister from 1991 to 2011. As urban development and municipal affairs minister under Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, he remained a prominent face.
Seventy-two-year-old Bhattacharya’s candidature, however, has irked a section in the local CPI(M) unit, especially the young brigade. This may give the BJP an opportunity to create a dent in the Left vote bank, local voters feel.
The BJP won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 2019 by a margin of 4,13,443 votes. In that election, the BJP was ahead of others in the Siliguri assembly segment by around 65,000 votes. The constituency has 2,21,740 voters.
Ghosh was considered the face of the CPI(M)’s youth brigade in Siliguri till he joined the BJP. He accused the CPI(M) of projecting only old leaders. The BJP candidate however tells people that he has nothing to say against Bhattacharya who was his political guru.
Though the BJP has fielded Ghosh to counter Bhattacharya’s popularity, many old-timers in the saffron camp, some of whom were aspiring for nomination, are annoyed with their leadership. “They are staying away from the campaign,” a BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.
Mishra, the TMC candidate, is being branded as an “outsider” by the BJP and CPI(M). Many people feel that Mishra is going through the same experience that former Indian footballer Bhaiching Bhutia faced in the 2016 assembly polls as the TMC candidate from Siliguri. A resident of Sikkim, Bhutia blamed a section of TMC leaders for his defeat to Bhattacharya.
Mishra said, “I am confident that Siliguri voters will vote for the development which only the TC can deliver.”
“The business community and Hindi-speaking voters of Siliguri will play a crucial role when the polls are held on April 17. There is a wave in support of the BJP,” said a prominent businessman who did not want to be named.
The Siliguri sub-division is a part of the Darjeeling district. The Siliguri assembly seat goes to polls on April 17 in the fifth of the eight-phase polling for control of Bengal’s 294 seats.
