The BJP has given the family of Suvendu Adhikari a miss in its list of candidates for Contai municipality polls, raising questions whether the decision reflected the party’s lack of confidence in winning the election.
The Contai municipality chairperson’s seat has always gone to a member of the Adhikari family from 1992 to 2021. Lok Sabha member Sisir Adhikari had been at the helm from 1990 to 2009. Immediately after his election as an MP, his son Suvendu, now BJP leader and leader of Opposition in the Assembly, replaced him.
Suvendu held the post till 2010 and was replaced by his younger brother Soumendu.
After both the brothers officially joined the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls, Trinamul removed Soumendu, who was then the administrator, from his post.
Local and state BJP leaders had hoped that Soumendu would be fielded by the party for the civic polls and would be the natural choice for the chairperson’s post. However, Soumendu’s name was missing from the list issued by BJP’s Contai district on Monday.
“Last month, Soumendu was appointed as one of the general secretaries of the newly formed Contai district committee. We had thought he would be contesting the polls but that didn’t happen,” said a state BJP functionary.“We are ahead of Trinamul in 16 of the 21 wards of Contai, in terms of the 2021 polls. Yet, Soumendu isn’t contesting. This could be a sign that the Adhikaris are anticipating defeat,” a BJP functionary said.
Suvendu’s brother, Dibyendu Adhikari, had also been a councillor for the municipality from 2005 to 2015. However, sources close to Suvendu said the Nandigram MLA had a role to play in the absence of Adhikaris from the Contai list. According to the source, Suvendu felt BJP old-timers could have resented Soumendu’s nomination.
“The party already has a lot on its plates. Suvendu da just didn’t want any more controversies,” the source added.Soumendu, however, told journalists that it was the party’s decision and he would abide by it. “The BJP isn’t run by one or two families. It isn’t a private limited company.”
“All of us will fight to make our candidates win in Contai,” he said.
Trinamul, however, took a dig at the Adhikaris and the BJP on this issue. “Was he not given a ticket or did he not take a ticket by choice? They know they will lose Contai and hence are afraid to contest," said Trinamul leader and minister Firhad Hakim.
The woes of the saffron camp stretches from the plains to the hills. The party has failed to come up with a candidates’ list for the 32 ward Darjeeling municipality. Wednesday is the last date for filing of nominations.
In the hills, the BJP has allies like the GNLF, CPRM and a faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League. Sources said talks were on with the allies and that had delayed publication of the list.
“Talks with allies are on. We are confident that by Wednesday morning our party will come up with the list of candidates for Darjeeling civic polls,” said BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista.
The confusion over lists of candidates have reached an extreme as no BJP leader was in a position to state lists of how many of the 108 civic bodies going to polls on February 27 have been announced.
"We have endorsed and released all the names by 6pm on Monday. However, the districts will make the final announcement. I'm not sure if all of them have done that," a state BJP office-bearer said.
On the other hand, protests over candidates have spread amongst BJP workers in Kharagpur, Murshidabad and several other places. At Kharagpur and Murshidabad's Jangipur, party offices and vehicles were vandalised by agitating party workers. At some places local BJP leaders were heckled as well.
One woman BJP leader in Kharagpur took to streets to announce that she'll attack people who'd vote for BJP, after she was denied a ticket for ward no 10.
In Kharagpur, actor-turned-MLA Hiranmoy Chatterjee has been fielded from ward no. 33. Chatterjee has recently spoken against the party's state leadership and the move to field him in the civic polls appears to be an attempt to pacify him.
Additional reporting by Avijit Sinha in Siliguri
