Malda, June 2: Early this morning, Bibek Moitra’s political dreams died a quiet death.

A close aide of Pramod Mahajan and his son Rahul, Bibek wanted his share of power. “Bibek expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Malda. Only a week ago, I received a call from him. But I could never dream of such a situation,” his uncle Amitabha Moitra said today.

Amitabha said he called up Bibek’s family in Mumbai as soon as he heard the news on television. That was around 6 in the morning, and they were not aware of the tragedy.

When Bibek’s father, Biman Moitra, migrated from Rajshahi to Calcutta in 1958 to study, Amitabha came to Malda and settled down here. In 1966, Biman got a job as a sergeant in Calcutta police. He later left for Mumbai. Bibek was his only son.

In Calcutta, Bengal BJP chief Tathagata Roy said: “I had casually told Bibek to contest from Malda in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls as I had heard that his relative was a Malda resident.”

Bibek’s uncle, however, said: “I advised him not to contest as there was hardly any chance to win. Now I repent. I should have advised him to contest the election. Then he would have got himself involved in the politics of Bengal. Perhaps such a tragedy would have been avoided.”