BJP Fields Mother Of Suvendu-PA At Nandigram Bypoll
According to sources, she recently called up Congress leader KC Venugopal and sought his party's support for her party's candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury and offered him Nandigram seat in exchange. Mr Venugopal however made no commitment, sources said.
Kolkata/Berhampore: BJP on Tuesday fielded West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari's slain aide Chandranath Rath's mother Hasirani Rath and party leader Shakharov Sarkar as its candidates for the Assembly bypoll at Nandigram in East Midnapore and Rejinagar in Murshidabad respectively.
Within hours of the announcement of her candidature in the morning, Ms Rath filed her nomination at Haldia in presence of the CM who however made a sensational claim about her son's murder which has been under the probe of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In a veiled reference to Diamond Harbour Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, Mr Adhikari alleged that 'Bhaipor Gang' had paid ₹2 crores to the contract killers to eliminate Chandranath, who was his personal assistant, four months ago at Doharia in Madhyamgram of North 24 Parganas.
He said, “I have learnt that ₹2 crores were paid for killing Chandra. ‘Bhaipor Gang' is involved in it. The CBI will probe it. It's not my lookout. But the CBI made a lot of progress by booking the shooters and the culprit who paid the Supari (contract) and the way he carried the money. We will see it till the end.”
On the other hand, Mr Sarkar, who is contesting at Rejinagar, is one of the BJP state secretaries. He was earlier Murshidabad district president. The seat however witnessed a silent attempt of an alliance by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee with her I.N.D.I.A. bloc partner: Congress.
According to sources, she recently called up Congress leader KC Venugopal and sought his party's support for her party's candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury and offered him Nandigram seat in exchange. Mr Venugopal however made no commitment, sources said.
Later Congress and TMC fielded their candidates at both the seats. What has added a twist meanwhile is that the TMC rebels also made Saifuzzaman Sheikh, the nephew of the Murshidabad MP Abu Taher Khan who is now in NCPI, its candidate at Rejinagar.
A similar tussle has hit the Left Front too as CPI(M) and its partner RSP fielded their candidates separately at the same seat. While CPI(M) has given the ticket to Mohammad Syed, RSP declared Bikash Chandra Mishra its candidate. Both of them submitted their nominations during the day.