Adhir urges Left push for Sohrab in friendly fight

RAGHUNATHGANJ: The Congress and Left are pulling out all the stops to ensure that they do not lose their strongholds to their election partners--the alliance parties will be pitted against each other in “friendly contests“ in some seats--in Murshidabad that goes to the polls on April 21.
The Congress and Left may have joined hands with an aim to drive Trinamool out of Bengal, but they are at war with each other in as many as 10 of the 22 constituencies in Murshidabad.CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra had earlier hinted parties might withdraw candidates even at the last moment if the weaker one realised such a “friendly fight“ could queer the pitch, making way for TMC.
Almost a fortnight after the last day for withdrawal of candidates got over on April 7, state Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Monday proposed that in places where the partners were fighting each other, they should maintain the “friendly“ aspect and both the parties should put their weight behind the “stronghold“ candidate. Broaching the proposal in presence of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who was in Bengal for campaigning on Monday , Chowdhury said the CPM should lend its support to Jangipur Congress candidate Md Sohrab. The suggestion comes after the Murshidabad Congress wrote a letter, urging CPM's backing. “We are abiding by the rules of the alliance with the Left. We have directed our (Congress) workers to support Left candidates where the Congress is weaker in comparison. This has happened in Nadia's Krishnagunj. Similarly, we expect Left supporters to back Md Sohrab in Jangipur as it is a Congress stronghold,“ Chowdhury said at the public meeting in Raghunathgunj.
But the CPM has already fielded Somnath Singha Roy in Jangipur. A former zilla parishad karmadhakshya and present chairman of the Jangipur Urban Cooperative Bank, Singha Roy is an influential leader and is likely to win sizeable votes. This may upset the alliance's applecart in the constituency. To avoid such an impending “disaster“, Chowdhury made the request to hold on to party strongholds.
But, according to sources, the CPM insisted on fielding Singha Roy from Jangipur after the Congress refused to yield from Domkal and Harihar para. “We haven't yet received any direction about supporting the Congress candidate.Let there be a friendly fight here, like in other places,“ said Samar Mukhopadhyay , CPM's committee secretary at Raghunathgunj.
At Nabagram, where CPM's Md Salim campaigned for Kanai Mondal, Nabagram East Congress block president Dhirendra Yadav drafted a formal request on his letterhead.The crux of the letter was that the “CPM should help Md Sohrab as the Congress is backing its candidates elsewhere“. But Salim, in his speech, did not quite make it clear if his party would heed the request.