Dec. 25: A pre-election brawl has ripped the veil off an ingenious political manoeuvre in Nandigram, prompting a claim that the CPM has dipped into the very land movement in search of a weapon to break Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank there.

Siddiqullah Chowdhury, the state Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind chief who was instrumental in keeping the Nandigram pot boiling till Mamata took control of the agitation, today alleged that Trinamul Congress activists attacked his convoy when he was campaigning along with his candidate Badshah Alam for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll.

Badshah Alam, contesting as an Independent, was injured in the head in the assault and admitted to Nandigram block hospital.

The assault not only signalled a breakdown of the tenuous ties between Trinamul and Siddiqullah — their supporters are part of the BUPC which spearheaded the backlash against land acquisition in Nandigram — but also confirmed suspicion that Mamata’s party was seeing the CPM’s hand in Badshah’s candidature for the January 5 bypoll.

Badshah is unlikely to win the election but he can play spoiler and help the Left by splitting Opposition votes.

The main contest is between Trinamul and the CPI candidate fielded by the Left Front. The Congress has left the field clear for Trinamul.

In the aftermath of the Nandigram movement that forced the government to abandon land acquisition there, Mamata’s candidate Firoza Bibi was expected to make handsome gains in — if not sweep — the bypoll necessitated by the resignation of the Left MLA following a corruption scandal. Firoza Bibi’s son was killed in the infamous March 14 police firing that turned Nandigram into a national issue.

Nandigram has a considerable number of minority votes. If Badshah, with the help of Siddiqullah, cuts into that base which otherwise would have swung towards Mamata’s candidate, the Left Front can nurse some hope of victory, instead of fear of certain defeat. Such a feat against odds could give the Left the lift it badly needs for the Lok Sabha polls.

Officially, the Left Front would not say it has anything to do with Badshah or Siddiqullah, though Trinamul believes that a senior CPM minister had played a key role in the manoeuvre.

Abu Taher, the Trinamul vice-president of the Nandigram panchayat samiti, said: “People have grievances against Siddiqullah as he has put up his candidate at CPM’s instance to jeopardise the prospects of our party nominee.”

Sources said Mamata had recently requested Pranab Mukherjee to persuade Siddiqullah, who is close to some state Congress leaders, to withdraw his candidate.