No winds of change in north Bengal,asserts CPM heavyweight

Situated at the tri-junction of Nepal,Bhutan and Bangladesh at the Chicken’s Neck which links the Northeastern states with other parts of the country,Siliguri is a business hub with a mixed population of Bengalis,Nepalis and Hindi-speaking people.

“I am getting a very good response from the voters. The ‘winds of change’ are not blowing in north Bengal. It may be there in Kolkata and some adjoining areas,but here? No wind,” Bhattacharya said and argued it was all media hype.

The veteran CPI(M) leader,who won by 74,911 votes,the highest margin in West Bengal,in the 2006 elections,has won the Siliguri seat for four times at a stretch since 1991.

Bhattacharya also did not attach much significance to the public meetings lined up by top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as well as Mamata Banerjee on April 18,saying it would not have much effect in the region.

“We know that they are going to campaign in this region,but there is no difficulty for us duo to that and this will not lead to any big advantage for the Trinamool-Congress alliance as the people are with us,” he said.

“The people of north Bengal have seen that the opposition alliance has no role in the development of the region and that they are with the divisive forces,” he said referring to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s unilateral support to the Trinamool-Congress combine.

Earlier,they had an issue of closed tea gardens,but now all gardens were open,he said. “Instead,we have several issues against them like price and corruption now.”

Trinamool Congress candidate Rudra Nath Bhattacharya,a newcomer in politics,puts up a brave face and does not seem worried at the prospect of fighting the heavyweight CPI(M) candidate.

A doctor at the North Bengal Medical College,Rudra Nath says,”It does not matter if I am a newcomer. Even our leader Mamata Banerjee had defeated veteran CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections.”

“It is the policies of a party which matter. I am not daunted by the stature of my opponent,” he said,adding “people have seen what the Left Front has done in 35 years and what Mamata Banerjee did in the two years as Railway minister.”

“She has also done a lot for north Bengal and this will be reflected at the hustings,” Rudra Nath,who is attached to several social projects in Siliguri,said.

However,Bhattacharya,who is also the Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister in the Left Front cabinet,will have some resons to worry about of which the biggest would be the loss of Siliguri Minicipality to the TC-Congress combine in 2009 and the Nepali votes.

The GJM is supporting the TC candidate at Siliguri along with several others in the region where it has a sizeable following,thus diminishing the chances of the BJP candidate Arun Prasad Sarkar getting a sizeable number of Nepali votes,which would help the CPI(M) candidate.

The GJM had gone with the BJP in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and had supported Jaswant Singh who won from the Darjeeling seat with their help.

Nepalis form seven per cent of total voters in Siliguri.

Despite Ashok Bhattacharya having won the Siliguri seat by a record margin in 2006,CPI(M) led over the Congress candidate by 14,490 votes in the segment,while BJP had polled 31,736 votes,a large percentage of which was due to the GJM support.

However,Ashok Bhattacharya claimed that the Nepali voters were no longer following the dictats given by the GJM leader Bimal Gurung.

“There will not be any polarisation of Nepali votes. They do not follow the dictats of the GJM here and a large percentage are with us,” he said,adding the Nepalis were attending his election meetings and rallies in good number.

With regard to the Left Front’s losing the Siliguri municipal elections,he said that Assembly elections are a different ballgame and it would not have any impact.

There are eight candidates in the fray from Siliguri,but the election is likely to be a straight fight between CPI(M)’s Ashok Bhattacharya and Rudra Nath Bhattacharya of Trinamool Congress while it would have to be seen how much vote share the BJP candidate retains in the new scenario where the GJM is supporting the Trinamool candidate.