Bagda (North 24 Parganas), June 11 (HS): With the announcement of by-elections on four assembly seats in West Bengal, a new political battle has started. In the darkness of the night, someone put up posters in Bagda assembly under North 24 Parganas district. The posters have messages against two BJP leaders.
Vishwajit Das was the MLA from Bagda. He joined the BJP a few years ago but later returned to the Trinamool. In the last Lok Sabha elections, he was nominated against Shantanu Thakur from the Bongaon parliamentary seat. Before the elections, he resigned from the post of MLA. That is why by-election is being held at that center. So far no party has announced the candidate. Meanwhile, a political controversy started over this poster.
Posters have been put up against two BJP leaders in the name of Dulal Bar and Haradhan Haldar. The posters read, ''We don''t want Trinamool''s broker Dulal Bar in Bagda assembly.'' ''We don''t want moneylender Haradhan Haldar in Bagda assembly. It is being claimed that these posters have been put up by BJP workers.
Dulal Bar was contacted in this regard, but he did not want to comment. However, Haradhan Haldar said that he is a BJP worker and was also campaigning for Shantanu Thakur in the elections. He said, ''I have not yet applied for a ticket. Those who put up posters in the dark of the night are my well-wishers. Tell them to eat sweets from my hands. This is a conspiracy of the opposition.''
Since Bagda is a BJP stronghold, Haradhan feels that some outsider has done this to create discord. Bagda East Block Trinamool Congress president Paritosh Kumar Shah said that Dulal Bar or Haradhan Haldar are not from Trinamool Congress, they are members of BJP, so it is their own matter. He remarked that this is the result of factional conflict in BJP.
According to the commission, voting will be held on these seats on July 10. The counting of votes will be done on July 13. These four seats are - Bagda in North 24 Parganas district, Ranaghat-South in Nadia district, Raiganj in North Dinajpur district and Maniktala in Kolkata. The by-election in Maniktala has become necessary due to the death of former Trinamool Congress MLA Sadhan Pandey.
Hindusthan Samachar/Priyanka /Manoj
