People's Democracy

WEST BENGAL

Left Front Gears Up For Lok Sabha Polls

By Our Correspondent

MUCH before the formal declaration of election schedule by the Election Commission, the West Bengal Left Front has released its list of candidates. The Left Front will field candidates in all the 42 seats of the state. “We will strive to win in all the seats,” said LF chairman, Biman Basu, on February 6 while announcing the names of candidates for 41 seats finalised in the LF meeting held earlier in the day. (See box) The candidate for one constituency – Kolkata (North West) – will be declared later. Basu also announced that poll campaign would begin right from the next day, i.e. on February 7 and concerted programmes will be taken up to the booth level.

Among the 41 seats, CPI(M) is contesting in 31 seats, RSP in 4 while CPI and AIFB will contest in 3 seats each. There are 12 new candidates contesting for CPI(M) in this election. They include former VC of Kalyani University, Basudev Burman (Mathurapur) and renowned athletes Jyotirmayee Sikdar (Krishnanagar). The others are Mani Thapa (Darjeeling), Minati Ghosh (Raiganj), Pranab Das (Maldah), Rabin Deb (Kolkata South), Srujan Chakraborty (Jadavpur), Amitava Nandy (Dum Dum), Santasree Chatterjee (Srirampur), Prasanta Pradhan (Contai) and Sushmita Bauri (Bishnupur).

The AIFB has made two changes, nominating Hiten Burman for Coochbehar and Subrata Basu for Barasat constituency. Both the RSP and CPI have renominated their previous candidates.

The Left Front chief whip in West Bengal assembly, Rabin Deb, will take on TMC chief Mamata Banerjee from Kolkata South constituency. The CPI(M) has also nominated the minister for development and youth affairs Md Salim to contest the Kolkata North-East seat. Former CPI MP and present general secretary of AITUC, Gurudas Dasgupta will be contesting from Panskura.

Later, addressing an activists meeting at Kulpi in South 24 Parganas district on February 8, the CPI(M) state secretary, Anil Biswas, stressed the need to increase the strength of the Left in Parliament in order to form a secular government at the centre and to oust the BJP-led NDA from power. The NDA government tries to divide the country into two Indias – one of the haves and the other of the have-nots. “How can they feel good when more than 4000 people have died due to winter cold this year alone in North India? The LPG prices have been raised eight times in the last six years. Ten per cent of posts in government offices have been abolished. The government has decided to hand over PF and pension money to the share markets. The common man’s condition is worsening by the day,” he said.

TRINAMOOL- INPT TALKS

Meanwhile, a closed door meeting between the Trinmual Congress leaders and a five-member delegation of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), the political platform of the banned terrorist outfit NLFT has created a stir in the political circles. The delegation included the four sitting MLAs of INPT form Tripura. It has been reported that the talks centred round a poll alliances between the two parties in the state. Reacting to reports of the meeting, CPI(M) state secretary, Anil Biswas, said any understanding with the terrorist outfit will further isolate the TMC from the people. “They go on mouthing the usual speeches against terrorism but link up with terrorist organisations for electoral gains”, he said. The chief minister, Buddhadev Bhatacharya, commented “This is Trinamul!”

While commenting on the prospects of the LF in West Bengal in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Anil Biswas said that he is confident about the victory of the Left. “We have confidence in the people. Trinamul Congress is daydreaming about electoral successes”, he remarked.

In reply to another question, Biswas said the people of the state have never accepted Congress. Asked to react to certain comments of Pranab Mukherjee, the WBPCC president about CPI(M) spreading canards against Rajiv Gandhi regarding the Bofors scandals, Biswas said  “It is a proven fact that there was a transaction of Rs 64 crore during the Bofors affair. We have always demanded that the culprits involved must be brought to book. Individual is not an important issue for us. Moreover, Rajiv Gandhi has passed away. The CPI(M) never drags persons who are no longer alive into political debates.”