Buddha hole in Bhowanipore canvass list

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Nandini Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee Calcutta, Sept. 6: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is unlikely to campaign for CPM candidate Nandini Mukherjee in Bhowanipore where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in the fray for the September 25 by-election, party leaders said. “We have been given to understand that Buddhababu has no plans so far of addressing meetings for our Bhowanipore candidate,” Calcutta district Left Front convenor Dilip Sen said this afternoon. Raghunath Kushari, the CPM’s Calcutta district committee secretary, said the former chief minister “has not given the nod for any campaign meeting”. The CPM leaders said Bhattacharjee was staying away because of other party commitments. A party source, however, said: “Buddhada does not want to campaign in a seat where chances of the CPM candidate winning are slim.” A CPM state committee member concurred: “Buddhada wants to avoid the embarrassment of having campaigned for a candidate who he is convinced would lose.” Bhowanipore is regarded as a Trinamul Congress bastion. In last year’s Calcutta Municipal Corporation polls, the Mamata Banerjee-led party won seven of the eight civic wards that constitute the Bhowanipore Assembly seat. CPM candidate Narayan Jain had lost to Trinamul’s Subrata Bakshi in this year’s Assembly polls by 49,963 votes. Jain has decided to campaign for the chief minister for this month’s by-election. Forward Bloc’s Calcutta district secretary Mainuddin Shams said Bhattacharjee’s absence would “further demoralise” Left Front supporters following its poor show in the Assembly polls. CPM candidate Mukherjee has begun a door-to-door campaign in Bhowanipore. She said she was unaware of her party’s campaign plans. “I don’t know who is on our campaign list,” she said. Mukherjee said she would focus on talking to voters about Trinamul’s “reign of terror”. On her chances of winning, Mukherjee said: “One has to take challenges in life without bothering about defeat or victory. I am approaching people with my agenda and it is up to them to vote for me.” According to CPM sources, Bhattacharjee will address a rally with party secretary Biman Bose on September 15 at Esplanade. The rally will be organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India over a host of demands, including job creation and education for all. Six days later, Left leaders will march from the Metro Channel to the Hazra crossing to protest alleged Trinamul-sponsored terror. “But we have no information that Buddhababu will participate in the march. So, the youth rally on September 15 will probably be the last one to be addressed by him before the Bhowanipore by-election,” said a Left leader. Surjya letter Opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra today wrote to Mamata about alleged Trinamul terror across the state. “This is probably the 12th time that we have written to the chief minister after the Assembly elections. But atrocities are continuing,” Mishra said. In his letter, Mishra also referred to recent attacks on Left activists in Cooch Behar, Burdwan and West Midnapore.