Jalpaiguri, April 22: Krishna Das of Baropatia-Natunbas gram panchayat under Rangdhamali area would have represented the “green plough” had he not filed nomination papers for the “sickle-hammer-star” for the panchayat elections.

Das, earlier known as an influential Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) leader of Rangdhamali belt and now identified as the KPP man “who joined the CPM after realising that he had been following the wrong path,” is contesting the seat as a CPM candidate.

According to sources, Das, who was a CPM member earlier, had joined the KPP and became a popular leader.

He was then picked up by the police but was released after some time. It was only after he came out of jail that he joined the CPM and is now contesting the panchayat polls.

“Many members of the KPP have joined our party after they understood that the demand for separate statehood and language is not a viable one and that it is only the CPM which works for the overall development of society and the people. They are working now like any other member of our party,” CPM district committee member and former member of Parliament of Jalpaiguri Jiten Das said.

“The door was open for those who had joined the KPP and had been cheated by some people having vested interests, to join the CPM. We had always said it is the CPM, and not the KPP, which is the party of the people,” Das said.

According to senior leaders of the party, Das, like other KPP leaders who joined the CPM was asked to “work and prove his mettle”.

“He was instructed to take charge of elections in two school committees and he succeeded. So we have included him in the list of candidates since he is popular in his area,” a senior party leader said.

According to party sources, the CPM does not think that providing tickets to such candidates, who “have left KPP and joined the party”, will affect the election results.

“Instead, people would support the fact that the CPM was instrumental in bringing them back on the right path,” a CPM district leader said.

The CPM, however, maintained that the percentage of candidates carrying the “ex-KPP” tag was meagre compared to the total number of nominations filed by the CPM.