Sikdar, man tasked with bringing BJP back to Dum Dum

“This time paribartan of the government at the Centre is our sole objective and we are working to fulfil that. The Congress has destroyed the country socially and economically. In the first UPA government the CPM was their accomplice and in the second UPA government it was the Trinamool Congress, which was its partner. It is the NDA government under Narendra Modi which will be able to take the country back to the path of glory,’’ Sikdar said, sitting at his Shyam Bazzar residence in north Kolkata.

In 1998, when he first contested from Dum Dum, he had a formidable opponent in CPM’s Nirmal Chatterjee and not even his well-wishers expected him to win. In fact he left the counting centre alleging rigging and said he would challenge the verdict in the court. However, he went on to win and nobody went to court. In 1999, Sikdar faced another CPM leader Anil Bhattacharya and again he scored over his CPM rival. But as the TMC-BJP alliance lost in 2004, Sikdar lost to the Amitava Nandi and again in 2009.

“In 2004 there was a wave against the TMC-BJP alliance and in 2009 there was a anti-CPM wave that brought Mamata Banerjee to power. And now it is the anti-Congress wave that is sweeping the country. People want to get rid of the corrupt, anti-people Congress,’’ Sikdar said.

However, the BJP candidate is banking not only on the perceived anti-Congress wave but on the good work he has done in the constituency with about 14 lakh voters. “Tapanda was one who without considering the political allegiance of a person, made the utmost use of the MPLAD fund, going in for development of the area,’’ Ritesh Tewary, secretary of the state unit, told The Indian Express. According to party sources, election managers of Sikdar are also banking on the two lakh Hindi-speaking people of Dum Dum.

There is dissension within the party with some saying he is not in best of health. “I am aware of the opposition but I don’t care. I know I am fit to fight the battle,’’ he said.

However Saugata Roy, TMC candidate who won with a slender margin of 20,000 votes in 2009, does not consider him a threat. “He got only 55,000 votes in 2009 and I don’t think he will be able to increase his margin,’’ Roy said.