Milon Chowdhury (centre) files nominations to contest from ward VII of Raiganj municipality on Wednesday. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, June 15: The CPI today fielded candidates against the CPM in two wards of the Raiganj Municipality to protest the party’s “Big Brother attitude” , dealing a major blow to the unity of the Left Front which had lost majority of Assembly seats in North Dinajpur district in the recent polls.

The CPI candidates today went to the subdivisional office with the party’s district secretary Samar Bhowmick and submitted nominations to contest from wards V and VII.

Raiganj Municipality has 26 wards and today was the last day to file nominations for the July 10 elections.

On June 13, the CPM’s Raiganj zonal committee secretary, Anirudhya Bhowmick, had announced that the Left Front would field common candidates in all the 25 wards of the municipality. He said the CPM would contest from 16 wards, the RSP and the Socialist Party from two each and Left Front-supported independents in the remaining five.

Anirudhya also said the CPI had not demanded any ward to contest from and that was why the party was not allotted a single seat.

The move by the CPM caused widespread anger in the CPI that accused the former of adopting “surreptitious and strong arm tactics”.

Samar said today that he had approached the district Left Front chairman after the announcement of the polls to discuss the strategy to be adopted to fight the elections. “On behalf of the CPI, I had sent a letter to the chairman, asking him to set aside ward VII for our party. We had won from that ward twice since 1996. However, before the 2006 civic polls, our sitting councillor switched over to the Congress and we expelled him from the party,” said Samar.

He said the CPM had put up an official candidate against the CPI in ward VII in the 2006 civic polls and the Congress had won the seat.

“We were surprised when the CPM zonal committee secretary told the press on June 13 that the CPI was not interested in contesting the elections. This is a lie and the CPM has not only hoodwinked us but also left us out of the poll fray to show their Big Brother attitude,” said the CPI leader.

After being denied even a single seat, CPI leaders met the supporters and decided that the party would contest not from one, but from two wards. “We have fielded Kona Nandi in ward V and Milon Chowdhury in ward VII. They will contest on the CPI symbol and if that creates a rift in the Left Front, the CPM will be to blame,” he said.

Interestingly, it was Chowdhury who had left the CPI and joined the Congress in 2006. He was elected the councillor from ward VII twice, first in 1996 as a CPI candidate and then on the Congress ticket in 2006.

Asked why Chowdhury was again allowed to contest as a CPI candidate, the party’s district secretary said he had severed all ties with the Congress and was acceptable to the people of the ward. “We have taken him back to the party and all disputes have been settled,” said Samar.

Anirudhya said in the 2006 municipal elections, the CPM had come second in ward VII.

“That is why we fielded our candidate there. In any case, we had not received any letter from them saying they wanted to contest. They are causing damage to the unity of the Front by contesting the elections without any discussions. The allegations being levelled against us do not suit them. Their stand will work in favour of the anti-Left alliance,” said the CPM leader.

The Congress and the Trinamul Congress candidates also filed their nominations today.

“Our only aim in this election is to make the civic board opposition free. We are confident that the Left will be routed not because of the division of their votes but because of our acceptance among the people,” said Congress MLA and outgoing civic chairperson, Mohit Sengupta.

The Congress is contesting from 17 wards and the Trinamul Congress from eight.

Elections were held to 26 wards of the civic body in 2006 and the Congress had won 18 seats.