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National leaders to campaign for Calcutta civic polls

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

With both the Congress and Trinamul Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party combine hell bent on loosening the Communist Party of India (Marxist) stranglehold on Calcutta's civic body, a no-holds-barred battle is in the offing.

State units of both the BJP and the Congress are requesting national heavyweights to campaign in the forthcoming elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, scheduled for June 25.

BJP's West Bengal unit vice president Muzaffar Khan told rediff.com, "The high command has agreed to send Sushma Swaraj, Union Sports Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and former union information and broadcasting minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for campaigning. While Hussain will arrive here on June 18 and stay till the end, Swaraj is scheduled to campaign only for a day, on June 19," Khan added. Naqvi was yet to confirm the date of arrival.

Not to be left behind, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee has requested Ghulam Nabi Azad, Madhavrao Scindia, Ahmad Patel and actor Dilip Kumar to campaign. "We had even proposed Rajesh Pilot's name. His presence would have worked wonders for us," PCC general secretary Sultan Ahmad revealed.

Congress Working Committee member Pranab Mukherjee is already camping in Calcutta along with the All India Congress Committee general secretary Prabha Rao, who is in charge of the state unit.

Both Congress and the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine appear hell bent on wresting the CMC from the CPM. The Trinamul became the main opposition party in the house after 38 Congress councillors switched loyalties. However, the Congress' impressive showing in the just-concluded civic polls in the state, in which it bagged 19 corporations, has galvanised the party.

The CMC has 141 seats, of which 47 have been earmarked for women this time. The Trinamul has left 23 seats for the BJP and 8 for 'like-minded' Congress candidates. This gesture has, apparently, irked party rank and file.

Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee's decision to project Subrata Mukherjee, a Congress defector, as mayoral candidate has only compounded the problem. Another major concern is the 'friendly contests' in the Salt Lake municipal polls. Trinamul and BJP candidates are locked in straight contests for 23 seats.

Much will depend on Mamata's ability to convert anti-CPM sentiment in her favour. Political analysts say the rumblings in the Trinamul and its inability to sort out pre-poll differences with the BJP will benefit the Congress.

They believe that people, increasingly disenchanted with the Left, see a new ray of hope in the rejuvenated Congress, not the Trinamul Congress.

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