In apparent bid to stump Mamata Banerjee in her own alleged game the Left Front is planning to field party politburo member and former MP Md Salim as its leading face in the coming Assembly elections, inside sources said ruling out however that the move had anything to do with the effort to reach out to the Muslim community.
The Muslims who had largely supported the Left Front in Bengal till 2011, have been the electoral mainstay for the Chief Minister --- more so, post the rise of BJP as the main opposition force.
The Bengal Chief Minister have often been criticized for importing communal politics in the State by appeasing the Muslims and igniting a saffron upsurge in turn.
The ploy to field Salim who had not contested the Assembly elections in 2011 or 2016 comes in tandem with the Marxists’ to tie up with the Indian Secular Front a newly erected outfit led by Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui a prominent cleric of Furfura Sharief the largest congregation of the Bengali speaking Muslims in the State.
Apart from Salim the Left is also likely to field JNU students’ leader Aishi Ghosh from Durgapur and Bengali actor Bandsha Moitra sources said adding CPI(M) State secretary Suryakanto Mishra will not contest elections this time round.