Chakrabarty: Home alone

Malda, May 18: The outgoing Congress sabhadhipati of the Malda zilla parishad, Gautam Chakrabarty, did not step out of home today, not even to cast his vote.

“For whom shall I cast my vote? For a party that does not even want to find out how I am? I have been advised a surgery for a slip-disc, but I would have still gone out and cast my vote had the Congress stood by me,” the leader who has been denied a ticket by his party said, sitting in his home at Puratuli in Malda town.

Last time, there had been a controversy when Chakrabarty became the district rural chief even though his name was on the voters’ list of Englishbazar, an urban area. In 2007, Chakrabarty transferred his name from Englishbazar to the rural Harishchandrapur, but this time, the Congress did not even consider his name as a candidate.

“I am feeling bad now that I did not cast my vote, but if I got injured, the party would not have stood by me. That is why I did not take the risk. I am feeling left out and lonely,” said Chakrabarty, who spent the day following the incidents of violence in Murshidabad and Birbhum on TV.

Why does he feel lonely? “Why not? The district Congress leaders do not care about me. Let alone visits, I do not even get a phone call from them. What have I done to be kept out of the elections completely? I had expressed my willingness to contest the polls and the district Congress leadership could have easily made me a candidate. My deputy in the zilla parishad, Gul Roshan, did not get a ticket either and is contesting the polls as a Trinamul Congress candidate,” Chakrabarty said.

When asked about his party’s prospects in the zilla parishad, the outgoing sabhadhipati said the Congress would not get more than 15 seats this time. He said the possibility of the Congress winning enough votes to rule the Malda zilla parishad on its own was remote.

“We shall see after May 11, when the results are out, whether my absence had any effect on the Congress’s fortunes or not,” Chakrabarty, who did not even campaign for the party, said.

The Congress leadership in Malda believes Chakraborty’s absence would not have any effect on the polls.

District Congress president Ruby Noor, when contacted, said she had personally rung up Chakrabarty and asked him to campaign. “I do not know why Gautam did not come for the campaigns. He said doctors had advised him rest,” Ruby Noor said.

Congress MP Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury said: “Gautam keeps his mobile switched off.” Krishnendu Chowdhury, the Congress MLA from Englishbazar, said it was good that the outgoing sabhadhipati remained indoors. “His presence would have had a negative impact on voters, given the zilla parishad’s poor track record,” Chowdhury said.