Nandigram, May 2: Abdul Kabir Sheikh is fighting two battles - one against his Trinamul rival Subhendu Adhikari and the other to remove the Nandigram taint.

The CPI candidate put up by the alliance in Nandigram has been campaigning all by himself. No villager in Sonachura, Bhangabera, Gokulnagar, Tekhali and Kalicharanpur - pockets that the CPM had laid siege to in the armed recapture of 2007 - has come out in support of Kabir.

So much so that he has not been allowed to even use the walls for writing graffiti. Panchayat members elected on CPM tickets have also given his rallies a miss.

"Even our supporters are scared. They feel they might be forced out of their homes if they campaign openly. Had some state level leaders campaigned here, it would have given the people some confidence," Kabir said.

The March 2007 police firing in Nandigram, which killed 14 persons, and the CPM's armed recapture of the area in November that year are seen as reasons that catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011.

Once a CPM stronghold, Nandigram switched en masse to Trinamul after the firing and has since stood by Mamata and party MPs Subhendu and his father Sisir Adhikari.

According to sources, what has made things more difficult for Kabir in Nandigram is the popularity of Subhendu. The seat was earlier represented by Trinamul leader Firoza Biwi, but was given to Subhendu this time.

Campaigning for the May 5 polls will end tomorrow. While the Left-Congress candidates in the 15 other Assembly constituencies in the district have lined up padayatras and meetings for the last hour, Kabir has no such plans.

"Our party supporters told me they would not attend any public meeting for the fear of being ostracised," said the 68-year-old retired government employee who is contesting his first poll from Nandigram.

Kabir has been going door to door asking for votes, mostly unaccompanied. He has had to face uncomfortable questions on those missing from the villages since November 2007, when the CPM made an armed bid to recapture the area.

Kabir said he had urged local Congress leader Sabuj Pradhan to help him in the campaign, but to no avail. "I oppose Trinamul, but I cannot ask for votes for the Left candidate here," Pradhan said.

CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra today campaigned in Chandipur, around 30km from Nandigram.

"There are over 100 booths in Nandigram where we cannot hold public meetings and roadshows. Our supporters are under threat," Mishra told The Telegraph, asked why Nandigram was kept out of the campaign schedule.

"We are in touch with our supporters. We have to see whether they can come out to vote," the CPM state secretary added.

CPM politburo member Mohammad Salim, too, has stayed away from Nandigram though he addressed party supporters in nearby Egra, Nandakumar and Kolaghat.

"The district committees decide on the campaign schedule of the central and state leaders," Salim said.

Nandigram and Khejuri were the first two areas in Bengal where the CPM was forced to shut down party offices, a phenomenon that was later repeated in Birbhum and Jungle Mahal.

Sources said many CPM families driven out of homes by Trinamul since 2011 had returned over the past few months, but they stayed away from active politics for fear of retribution.

Although Mishra and Salim did not go to Nandigram, Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said he would join a roadshow on the last day of campaigning in nearby Khejuri.

Abu Taher, the Trinamul chief of Nandigram block-I panchayat samiti, said: "People are not with the CPM in Nandigram. From where will they get walls?"