NCPI to support BJP in West Bengal bypolls

The Nationalist Citizens Party, recently strengthened by 20 defecting MPs from the Trinamool Congress, will now support the BJP in its by-election campaign for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly seats. The elections are scheduled for October 6. Jyotiprokash Chattopadhyay, the newly elected president of a 27-member committee of NCPI office bearers, on Wednesday said that as a part of the NDA, his party had decided to campaign for the BJP.

“We had taken part in the recent all-party meeting convened by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji... We joined the meeting as an NDA constituent... By dint of our numbers we are now the second largest party in the NDA... we will take part in the election campaign as and when the BJP requests us,” Chattopadhyay said.

The BJP welcomed Chattopadhyay’s statement, dismissing any speculation about a future electoral alliance or seat-sharing mechanism with the party.

State party spokesperson Sayantan Bose said, “We welcome their gesture ... But that does not mean that we have any kind of electoral alliance or any future seat-sharing formula should be deduced from their good gesture.”

Basu’s statement assumes significance in the backdrop of looming civic elections in Bengal, which are likely to take place sometime in November or December, when Howrah and Kolkata Municipal Corporations go to polls. His statement echoed the one recently made by State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, who said that his party “has no plans to fight jointly... We intend to contest the civic elections alone.” 

In the Assembly by-elections for which the campaigns have already started, the BJP has fielded Hansirani Rath — a former panchayat member and the mother of Chandranath Rath, the slain personal assistant of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari — from Nandigram. In contrast, Sakharav Sarkar, the Murshidabad district president of BJP, is contesting from Rejinagar.

While Hindus constitute just about 32 per cent of the the Murshidabad electorate, in Nandigram they are in the majority, with more than 75 per cent of votes.

When asked to comment on former Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Gaddar (traitor) barb on the NCPI MPs who had broken away from the TMC post BJP’s victory in the April-May Assembly elections in Bengal, Chattopadhyay said, “Do they have any locus standi to say so... Is there any party existing called Trinamool Congress... They are bringing anti-defection charges ... But their party has split up... It does not exist as of now... So, when there is no party by such a name, where is the question of any defection?