BJP, Trinamul break away in Midnapore

CALCUTTA, FEB 10: Although the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamul Congress have joined forces in the West Bengal, in the Midnapore Lok ...

CALCUTTA, FEB 10: Although the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamul Congress have joined forces in the West Bengal, in the Midnapore Lok Sabha constituency they will pit candidates against each other.

A last-minute hitch between the two poll partners over the Midnapore seat seems to have embittered the “political friends” who joined hands to fight “their common enemy, the CPI(M)”, at the hustings.

As the last date for withdrawal of nominations drew near, each party expected the other to withdraw from the fray. However, both remained equally adamant on retaining their candidates. While Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of “betrayal”, the saffron party said it was a request they could not comply with.

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This squabbling between the two electoral allies provided a much-needed edge to Communist Party of India strongman and Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta, who is the Left Front candidate for the seat.

Mamata is reportedly angry over the “loss of face”. She had hoped that the BJPwould not field a candidate considering the importance of her party nominee, former Planning Commission member Nitesh Sengupta. The BJP is fielding Monoranjan Dutta while the Congress has put up Satish Chandra Jena, who is relatively unknown.

At a public meeting last weekend, Mamata lashed out at the BJP. Expressing her shock at the trun of events, she asked the people to vote for the Trinamul candidate. “Even during our talks with L K Advani, we were told that the BJP will not put up any candidate from that constituency. But the state BJP did not bother to keep this promise,” she fumed.

However, the state BJP unit has refuted the charges. “If candidates are not withdrawn finally, we will not campaign against the Trinamul Congress,” said the state BJP chief.

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Speaking to The Indian Express, a BJP leader said: “Our party doesn’t see any reason why there should be any controversy over the issue. We made it clear from the beginning that the Midnapore seat, which the Trinamul was planning to keepfor the Samata Party, should be left to us in case Samata failed to select a candidate for the seat”. The party leader added: “And when it became clear that the Samata Party was not fielding a candidate for the seat, we clearly told the Trinamul Congress leadership that we would not give up Midnapore”.

Caught in the inter-party squabbling, the BJP has reiterated its earlier theory of having a “friendly contest”. However, there are no takers for this line of thought in the Mamata camp.