Kamarhati, April 24: The Woodburn ward of SSKM Hospital in Bhowanipore is several kilometres from the Kamarhati municipality office, but Madan Mitra has bridged the gap.
In an ornate frame on a wooden shelf in outgoing municipality chairman Gopal Saha's office, the minister is right behind him.
"He has done so much for the area.... He is our inspiration," said Saha, hardly bothered about the charges the CBI and other agencies have levelled against Mitra in connection with the Saradha scam.
Although several senior Trinamul leaders have conceded that Mitra's arrest has been one of the most embarrassing developments for the ruling party, those in Kamarhati think otherwise.
Since last November, a month before the CBI arrested Mitra, the transport minister has been away from his constituency. But as Kamarhati goes to polls tomorrow, he is all over the area - on billboards, banners, posters, political meetings and more importantly, in all decisions that include choice of candidates.
"Madanda is the main force behind the polls here," said Debparna Chakrabarty, the Tollywood actress whom Trinamul has nominated apparently at the behest of the minister.
"Almost all the areas under this municipality bear the stamp of his presence."
Trinamul leaders in this erstwhile Left bastion in North 24-Parganas, off BT Road, said their "dada " has had his say in selecting nearly 80 per cent of the candidates across 35 wards of Kamarhati. Some of them admit they have received his "blessings" after filing nominations.
The Dakshineswar temple to the west and Jatin Das Nagar to the east, Kamarhati is caught between the aspirations of an upwardly mobile middle class and the supposed frustrations of unemployed youths in an area dotted with housing projects coming up on closed factory land.
Although the Left has often blamed Trinamul - especially Mitra - for compromising the future of those who worked in the now-closed factories and changing the character of the land to facilitate real estate, the sharp tenor of the criticism is missing this time.
Sources said the Left had realised that it would be difficult to tackle the surge of emotions swirling around the minister and decided to avoid highlighting the Saradha allegations against him or his alleged proximity to realtors.
The Saradha issue had been the Left's main plank during the Lok Sabha polls last year.
"Instead, we decided to speak about lack of civic amenities, such as drainage and drinking water, in our campaign," said 81-year-old Gobinda Ganguly, the former municipal chairman and a prominent CPM leader in the area.
But for the beleaguered Left, the Kamarhati municipality is still a matter of prestige.
Trinamul formed the civic board in Kamarhati in January 2014 by persuading a Left member to switch, a move allegedly engineered by Mitra.
While Trinamul had 17 members, the Left had 18 before the defection.
In the absence of Mitra from the poll campaign, the Left is hoping to win over its erstwhile fief.
But the Trinamul camp is hardly worried.
"Dada may not be here physically but he is everywhere. He is guiding us and we will win convincingly. That would be our gift to him," said Saha, sitting in his chamber.
