Deepa Das Munshi on the campaign trail for the municipal elections in Balurghat. Picture by Ramen Mondal

Balurghat, June 23: Goalpokhar MLA Deepa Das Munshi has hinted that husband and Bengal PCC chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi would contest the next Lok Sabha polls from Balurghat.

Campaigning for the Congress’s candidates in the ensuing municipality polls here, Deepa has been telling gatherings that they were about to vote a “special person” to the Lok Sabha, without taking the name of the MP from Raiganj in North Dinajpur.

In the recent delimitation process, the Balurghat Lok Sabha seat, which used to be reserved, was re-classified as a general one. If Das Munshi contests from Balurghat, Deepa might take over from her husband in Raignaj, said political sources.

“In the next Lok Sabha elections, which is not far off now, you will get a Congress candidate who will bring many important development projects to your district and make it a better place to live in,” Deepa said at one meeting.

She told the gathering that they should strengthen the Congress’s base and ensure that the party wrests the Balurghat municipality from the RSP. “Let the civic elections be a semi-final win for the Congress before we win in the finals, the Lok Sabha elections,” Deepa said.

When asked if Das Munshi would be the Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate from Balurghat, Deepa answered with a brief, “wait and see” and did not deny the possibility.

Political circles are almost convinced that Das Munshi would contest from here. “Each time he has made a public address in Balurghat, the state Congress president has declared himself a son of South Dinajpur,” a college teacher in town observed.

Since the district of West Dinajpur was bifurcated on April 1, 1992, Das Munshi has been claiming that the divide was only administrative.

“We are but one district,” was his refrain every time he came here, the college teacher added.

Even Deepa, during her civic election campaigns, has been claiming that the people of North and South Dinajpur had the same ethos and it should not be lost in petty politics.

Sources said the Congress was out to exploit the fissures within the Left Front, which came to the fore during this year’s panchayat elections.

“The so-called understanding between the CPM and the RSP for the municipal elections is an unholy one. How can two parties that fought bitterly with each other during the panchayat polls suddenly become close? This is just to fool people and retain power. The RSP has done nothing to ease the suffering of the people during frequent floods in the monsoon, despite spending crores,” Deepa told the crowds.