By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: A three time MP ought to be well entrenched in his constituency even if he does not voice his certainty about his victory when he faces the electorate on the fourth occasion. A hatrick of electoral triumphs notwithstanding, , Trinamool Congress MP from Dum Dum, Saugata Roy is aware of the undercurrent of intra-party squabbles and gaps in development programmes as he seeks the people’s verdict for the fourth time on May 25.
Come June 1, Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency will witness an electoral battle between three salt and pepper politicians namely Roy of TMC , INDIA coalition supported CPI (M) nominee Sujan Chakraborty and BJP ‘s Shilabhadra Dutta. The trio has spent a lifetime in politics and the coming contest will once more test their organisational skills and extent of their support base.
Once a conglomerate of industrial units and dotted with refugee colonies, this North -24-Parganas’ Lok Sabha constituency used to be a Left bastion. It gives a bonus point to the CPI (M) candidate as his party considers itself to be the principal challenger to Trinamool Congress.
But it is a back to the wall political fight back for the CPI(M) relegated to the third position in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Chakraborty has placed his trust on hi tech campaigning by the party’s young brigade who are reaching out to the voters through online surveys.
The surveys are being used to connect with those who are chary to come out in open support of the Left fearing TMC’s ire. Parodies and skits are being used to draw comparison between the Left Front regime and the present one.
All these are causes for concern for the TMC nominee, Roy as his CPI(M) opponent is eyeing a chunk of anti-BJP votes. Having left the TMC in 2021, the BJP nominee Dutta did not rejoin it despite his electoral reverse which considerably increased his political credibility.
The BJP candidate Dutta is certain of getting all the saffron camp supporters votes. Split in anti-BJP votes apart, dissension in TMC ranks is worrying the three time MP Roy, it is bonus point for the saffron camp nominee.
Intra-party dissension is worrying Roy as the differences between Khardah MLA and minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and the TMC faction opposed to him has come to the surface. The minister who happens to be a trade union leader is accused of taking only the cooperation of the men of his own coterie.
The dissident faction had taken out an election rally without Chattopadhyay. This faction is learnt to have stayed away from an internal meeting of the party over election much to Roy’s discomfiture. Though differences are reported to have been settled, the dissident faction is stated to be awaiting a meeting with the district leadership. The sole agenda of the proposed meeting is whether the dissidents would be involved in the campaign and the polling day arrangements.
Allegations are being levelled at Panihati municipality authorities that civic facilities are not upto the mark. The civic representatives have written to the district leadership seeking change of the municipality head.
The allegations of the Opposition about scarcity of drinking water and drainage at Panihati and Kamarhati found support from an unexpected quarter. During an election rally in Roy’s support, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that drinking water will reach many houses soon while work has started on improving the drainage system.
Trinamool’s organisational set up in Kamarhati has reportedly become lax owing to the long absence of Madan Mitra who was not well..Though the legislator is back in the saddle, he is known to have rubbed many a local leaders the wrong way.
The TMC leadership has reason to be chary about Roy’s victory as his winning margin has reduced to almost one third of the votes he received in 2019vis-a-vis 2014 election. From 1,54,934 votes in 2014, it slumped to 52,999 in 2019 election.
Roy is banking on the state government’s social development projects like Lakshmir Bhander and Rupasree and his mass contact. With all the seven Assembly segments having TMC MLAs, his supporters are confident of winning comfortably defying the Left’s intensive campaign.
Since 1977, no political party has won more than thrice in Dum Dum. Going by this statistic, Roy has reached his optimum with his third victory in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Since 1977, this constituency is known to spring surprise poll results off and on. Ashok Krishna Datta of Janata Party was the first flag bearer of this trend in the first post Emergency election. .
It was Congress’s Asutosh Laha who won in 1984 election, held in the backdrop of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. In 1998 and the following year it was BJP’s Tapan Sikdar. The odds are high against Roy. It remains to be seen whether the Opposition candidates can capitalise on them or cohesion of Trinamool activists in Dum Dum on the polling day can beat these contingencies made up of reduced victory margin and a strong anti-incumbency factor. (IPA Service)
