Key Contests : S Mukherjee vs Jyotirmoyee Sikdar

MANDATE 2004/ LS CONSTITUENCY WATCH - West Bengal

Swapan Bhattacharya, priest of the Ram Sita temple at Shibnibas, a village 24 kms away from the district town of Krishnanagar, is unhappy with the district administration for not granting Rs 10 lakh for the temple renovation despite being promised by Satyabrata Mukherjee, Union chemicals and fertilisers minister.

But Bhattacharya finds solace in the fact that Mukher-jee reiterated that he would pay the sum, if required from his won pocket, if he is re-elected this time.

"Jolubabu (as Mukherjee popularly known) is a man of his word. When he says he will organise the fund, we are certain that this is going to happen. After all, Jolubabu's integrity and honesty is beyond question," he said.

The reaction of the priest of the temple, founded by Raja Krishna Chandra Roy after the name of Lord Shiva (some says the village was named after the name of his son Raja Shiv Chandra) is a testimony of the faith that 1.3 million voters of the Krishnanagar constituency have in Jolubabu.

He is seen to be different from run-of-the-mill untrustworthy politicians. Jolubabu is going to contest the polls this time with this capital. He might have failed in keeping few of his promises he made immediately after winning the last term in 1999 with a small 21,000 margin.

He promised to set up a medical college and a university at Krishnanagar. He also could not arrange for a rail link between Krishnanagar and Karimpur, a border town with no railway connectivity.

Electrification of the line between Krishnanagar and Berhampur and laying double tracks between Krishnanagar and Kalinarayanpur, also promised, did not happen either.

Jolubabu, the bar-at-law, is aware of these. When asked during a face-to-face programme, organised by a private television channel, between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the CPI(M) candidates (Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (CPM) sent her representative), Mukherjee said he could not fulfil the promises because of many hurdles and then went on to explain the problems. Voters were moved with this admission of failure.

Although Jolubabu has exhausted his MP fund for mostly development and road repairs, his fate would largely depend on the way the 200,000 first-time voters tilt. There is a strong anti-CPI(M) wave across the constituency also a bitter infighting is on between different factions in the CPI(M) district hierarchy.

Insiders say frustrated with the intra-CPI(M) wrangle, the party state headquarters nominated Sikdar even after she lost the last Assembly polls from the Ranaghat constituency.

However, poll planners are not sure which way the new voters would tilt on the day of polling. Congress candidate Asim Saha has so far failed to make any major wave.

The arithmetic is in favour of the CPI(M) candidate and Asiad gold medalist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar. Out of seven Assembly seats, only two ""Krishnanagar East and Nakashipara""are represented by the Trinamool Congress, a part of the National democratic Alliance (NDA). Others ""Krishnaganj, Chapra, Plasy, Kaliganj and Krishnanagar West""were won by the CPI(M) in the last Assembly elections.

The CPI(M) district headquarters at Krishnanagar, officially, says the party is united and it will drive the BJP away. "One of the two BJP members of Parliament in the state is from our constituency. This is a shame to the secular tradition of Krishnanagar," said a CPI(M) office-bearer.

However, one has to wait till May 13 to know whether the "secular spirit" of the home district of the state CPI(M) general secretary Anil Biswas would be able to defeat Jolubabu, who is perceived to be secular too.