The ire over candidates for the Assembly elections on Friday reached the BJP state office in Salt Lake where a group of party workers from the Beleghata constituency staged an agitation for the replacement of
the nominee.
The BJP workers demanded that Beleghata candidate Partha Choudhury be replaced with someone from among local activists and old guard. Some workers raised slogans against Choudhury and claimed that his selection would help the Trinamool Congress win the seat.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya and the party’s state general secretary, Locket Chatterjee, came out of their chambers and attempted to pacify the aggrieved workers. However, Bhattacharya made it clear that the decision was final once a candidate was declared. Some workers also raised slogans saying they would defeat the party’s nominee if he was not replaced.
“Those who want to defeat the party nominee cannot be BJP workers, so there is no discussion with them. However, such incidents and agitation against a party’s nominee are not expected. There must be some reason, and the party will examine it. It sometimes happens as party workers are emotional,” said
Bhattacharya.
The agitation was not limited to the state headquarters. After the second list of the candidates was announced on Thursday evening, the protest were reported from several districts. The party had published the names of 144 candidates in the first phase, mostly from seats where there was little scope for dissent.
In the second phase, the BJP announced 111 candidates, many of which saw some discontent, particularly where there was almost equal support for more than
one aspirant.
On Friday, BJP workers staged protests in several districts, including Malda, Murshidabad’s Burwan, and Hooghly’s Balagarh.
In Balagarh, a group of BJP workers protested at the Hooghly district party office, alleging that the party had fielded Sumana Sarkar, who had recently joined from the TMC. They claimed that while in the TMC, the newcomer had harassed the party’s old guard and grassroots workers.
During the protest, they threw chairs and declared they would not campaign for Sarkar unless she was replaced. Though they did not propose an alternative name, they demanded that a local leader from the party’s old guard be fielded instead. Sarkar was the deputy chief of the Hooghly Zilla Parishad. Local BJP leaders said they would take up the issue with the state leadership.
On the other hand, discontent over candidates in the Trinamool Congress continues to prevail in several areas, including East Burdwan, where workers in at least two Assembly constituencies remain dissatisfied with the party’s choices. In Khandoghosh, block president Aparthiba Islam has already expressed dissatisfaction with the renomination of sitting MLA Nabin Chandra Bag.
A Trinamool source said efforts are ongoing to pacify dissenting leaders in constituencies facing such issues.
“Most such issues have already been resolved through discussions with party workers. We hope the rest will also be settled as time goes on and the campaign begins,” said a TMC leader.
Recently, a group of CPM workers vandalised the party’s Kaliganj office in Nadia, objecting to the nomination of Tamanna Khatun’s mother.