Trinamool refuses to budge on Malda, files four nominations

Subrata Nagchoudhury

Kolkata, April 18: AFTER the near revolt by senior leader Ajit Panja yesterday over seat-sharing, the Trinamool Congress today toughened its stance on Malda, with as many as four candidates filing their nominations from four Assembly seats, including the Englishbazar seat, the bone of contention between the party and Congress leader Ghani Khan Chowdhury.

The party’s candidate from Englishbazar Krishnendu Chowdhury told reporters, after filing his nomination along with three others, they had filed their papers as per the directives of party chief Mamata Banerjee. Three others filed their papers from Ratua, Old Malda and Gajole seats of the Lok Sabha constituency.

This is bound to trigger off a fresh round of bickering between the two sides with Ghani Khan asking his nominee from Englishbazar seat Gautam Chakravarty to wait and watch. ‘‘You are my candidate from Englishbazar. Why are you worrying, such bickerings precede every election,’’ Ghani reportedly told Chakravarty.

Pressure is mounting on Ghani Khan from his own supporters as he is yet to dissuade the Trinamool Congress from fielding a candidate from any of the seven Assembly segments of his Lok Sabha seat.

District-level Trinamool leaders who had been quiet till date have also started flaying Ghani for his ‘‘rigidity’’ in not conceding a single seat to the Trinamool from his Lok Sabha area. ‘‘This is only helping the CPI(M),’’ they charged.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool camp in Kolkata kept mum over Panja’s virtual revolt yesterday against Mamata who is away on a campaign tour. She is expected back tonight. Party insiders, however, said neither Panja nor Banerjee would do anything at this stage to precipitate the situation.

But the mood within the Trinamool camp is far from happy. There are others who might just be waiting in the wings for the opportune moment to strike, said some leaders.

Panja had yesterday alleged that there was no inner party democracy in the Trinamool and accused the leadership of ignoring the rank and file of the party who have worked for the party right from its inception.

Panja is reportedly peeved over the importance assigned to Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Soumen Mitra in the seat-sharing talks.