CPM clarifies: Asim Dasgupta mayoral candidate for Bidhannagar civic polls

This comes three days after it was reported that Dasgupta had refused to be the party’s candidate for the October 3 polls.

CPM, Asim Dasgupta, mayoral, Guatam Deb, CPM mayoral candidate, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation polls, polls, election, kolkata news, indian express

CPM leader and former Finance minster Asim Dasgupta , Mayor candidate of Bidhannagar Municipal corporation election campaigning kicks of from Karunamoyee bus stand in Saltake, Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

CPM leader Gautam Deb on Sunday announced that party leader and former state finance minister Asim Dasgupta will be CPM’s mayoral candidate for the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation polls. This comes three days after it was reported that Dasgupta had refused to be the party’s candidate for the October 3 polls.

When contacted, Dasgupta, however, denied that he had refused to be the mayoral candidate. “I didn’t refuse the offer. Decisions of such a kind have to go through various layers within the party organisation. The matter was discussed at different levels before it was finalised,” he said.

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Asked if he intended to replicate CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya’s strategy that won the party the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in the recently held civic polls, Dasgupta said the situation in Bidhannagar was slightly different. “We will work with the main objective of upholding the democratic rights of the locals. Therefore, our intention is to involve them. We have a list of priorities which will be unfolded soon.”

On the recent agitations undertaken by the CPM and the Left Front against the ruling Trinamool Congress regime, Dasgupta said: “People are basically in a mood not to tolerate. They are in a mood to stage a fight and if there is any resistance, they want to remove the resistance.” He added that the party’s poll agenda will be finalised soon.

Dasgupta said on certain issues, like to ensure that people are allowed to vote peacefully, CPM is ready to take help from other parties.

“Moreover, the administration will have to be informed about the law and order situation. Locals too need to be told that they should go in groups to cast their votes. If anti-social elements see people in large groups, they will be deterred,” he added.

Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is currently run by Trinamool Congress. While earlier, Bidhannagar municipality only covered the Salt Lake area, now Rajarhat municipality has been merged with it to make it a municipal corporation.

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