No winds of change in N Bengal, asserts CPI-M heavyweight

CPI(M) heavyweight Ashok Bhattacharya, who won from Siliguri by a record margin in the 2006 Assembly elections in West Bengal, is sure of retaining the seat pitted against rookie Trinamool Congress candidate Rudra Nath Bhattacharya, but certain factors may spoil his come-back party.

Situated at the tri-junction of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh at the Chicken's Neck which links the Northeastern states with other parts of the country, Siliguri is a business hub with a mixed population of Bengalis, Nepalis and Hindi-speaking people.

"I am getting a very good response from the voters. The 'winds of change' are not blowing in north Bengal. It may be there in Kolkata and some adjoining areas, but here? No wind," Bhattacharya said and argued it was all a media hype.

The veteran CPI(M) leader, who won by 74,911 votes, the highest margin in West Bengal, in the 2006 elections, has won the Siliguri seat for four times at a stretch since 1991.

Bhattacharya also did not attach much significance to the public meetings lined up by top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as well as Mamata Banerjee on April 18, saying it would not have much effect in the region.

"We know that they are going to campaign in this region, but there is no difficulty for us duo to that and this will not lead to any big advantage for the Trinamool-Congress alliance as the people are with us," he said.

"The people of north Bengal have seen that the opposition alliance has no role in the development of the region and that they are with the divisive forces," he said referring to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's unilateral support to the Trinamool-Congress combine.

Earlier, they had an ssue of closed tea gardens, but now all gardens were open, he said. "Instead, we have several issues against them like price and corruption now."

Trinamool Congress candidate Rudra Nath Bhattacharya, a newcomer in politics, puts up a brave face and does not seem worried at the prospect of fighting the heavyweight CPI(M) candidate.

A doctor at the North Bengal Medical College, Rudra Nath says, "It does not matter if I am a newcomer or not. Even our leader Mamata Banerjee had defeated veteran CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee in 1984 Lok Sabha elections."

"It is the policies of a party which matter. I am not daunted by the stature of my opponent," he said, adding "people have seen what the Left Front has done in 35 years and what Mamata Banerjee did in the two years as Railway minister."