With unfulfilled promise of bridge, Paul eyes second term

Eyeing a second term from here, Trinamool Congress nominee and actor Tapas Paul finds himself on a sticky wicket amid complaints of being absent from the constituency and not fulfilling his promise of building a concrete bridge to end monsoon woes of thousands of residents.
Almost all the nine candidates fighting for this seat are harping on development as the main poll plank with poor infrastructure, rural electrification and soil erosion being the primary concern of about 15 lakh voters here.
Located about 100-km away from Kolkata in Nadia district, Krishnanagar town lies along the Jalangi river and has seven assembly segments, five of which were bagged by Trinamool in the 2011 polls while the Left parties managed only two.

Thousands of people cross the river using a temporary bamboo bridge which has to be dismantled as the river swells during monsoons. Using boats, which are risky, is the only alternative, locals say.
During his 2009 Lok Sabha campaign, Paul had promised voters that he would build a concrete bridge across the river. As that promise remains unfulfilled, apathy of voters seems evident in complaints that the star MP was hardly seen in the constituency during the five years of his tenure.
In 2009, 55-year-old Paul had defeated CPI(M)'s Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, a former Asiad gold medallist sprinter, by 77,386 votes with veteran BJP leader Satyabrata Mookherjee coming third.

Mookherjee, who had won the seat earlier in 1999, is the BJP candidate this time as well while CPI-M has fielded Santanu Jha and Congress Razia Ahmed.

Paul, however, is confident of returning to Parliament riding the popularity of party head and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"The most important factor would be the work done by Trinamool Congress across the state. I am sure that will make me win," Paul told PTI.
Mookherjee, a former Union minister, however, claims that neither did Paul come here regularly nor did he use the MP-LAD funds.