“We are booking a big ground. Thirty thousand to forty thousand people will be there.” The palpable pleasure within the voice of Sankar Malakar, who has been the Congress MLA from Siliguri’s Matigara-Naxalbari seat for the final decade, can’t be missed even on the cellphone.
Malakar, additionally the working president of the Congress in West Bengal, is getting ready for former get together president Rahul Gandhi’s first rally within the state this election season.
Gandhi might be on this constituency on April 14, after practically half the election (4 out of the eight phases) is over and with only a fortnight left for the marketing campaign to finish within the state.
“Rahul’s entry in Bengal will be very beneficial for us. Our voters and workers will be motivated. This helps our alliance with the Left and the ISF (Indian Secular Front) too. We are fighting against the Bijumal – that is the BJP plus the Trinamool (TMC), as the BJP is made up mostly of ex-TMC people. Muslims will be voting for our alliance in a big way,” Malakar informed News18 on the cellphone.
Gandhi has thus far stayed away from Bengal, the place his get together faces a paradoxical state of affairs. The Congress is in alliance with the Left on this state, however is combating it in Kerala, which voted in a single part on April 6. Hence, Gandhi, who spearheaded the Congress marketing campaign in Kerala, was anticipated to step into Bengal not earlier than April 7.
Abbas Siddiqui, the chief of Congress ally ISF, in an interview with News18 earlier, had expressed disappointment over the 135-year-old get together’s absence from the marketing campaign.
“We know Rahul was busy with Assam and Kerala campaigns. But we are glad he will be here now,” Malakar stated. With his seat polling on April 17 and the Election Commission (EC) extending the “campaign silence period” to 72 hours right here after the Cooch Behar violence within the part 4 of polling on April 10, Gandhi’s rally might be successfully held on the final day of the campaigning for the fifth part.
Focus on Muslim Votes
A senior Bengal Congress chief stated get together candidates needed Gandhi to carry at the very least a dozen rallies within the state, particularly in Malda and Murshidabad districts, the place Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Choudhary has a robust affect and the Muslim citizens is loyal in direction of the get together.
Gandhi’s second rally on April 14 might be in Goalpokhar in Uttar Dinajpur district; practically 74% of the inhabitants on this constituency are Muslims — one of many highest within the state.
“The TMC (ruling Trinamool Congress) has done nothing for the Muslims, who now realise it is only the Congress-Left-ISF alliance that can stop the BJP from coming to power in the state. We have big hopes from Rahul’s rally here,” Mohd Naseem Ahsen, the Congress candidate from Goalpokhar, informed News18 on the cellphone.
The Congress final gained this seat in 2006, when Deepa Dasmunsi, the spouse of late Congress chief Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, contested it. She is now tenting within the constituency to drum up help for the Congress. “All candidates on my seat – of the BJP, TMC and Congress – are Muslims. The sitting TMC MLA for the last decade, Mohd Ghulam Rabbani, has failed Muslims. He is telling Muslims that ‘(chief minister) Mamata Banerjee will stop NRC (National Register of Citizens. So vote for her’…Rahul has pledged to stop NRC not just in Bengal but in the entire country. His rally will be beneficial for our entire district,” Ahsen stated.
BJP Keeps A Close Watch
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) doesn’t appear a lot bothered about Gandhi’s entry into the Bengal marketing campaign, with at the very least two get together leaders telling News18 that this might find yourself serving to the BJP because the Congress-Left-ISF alliance will eat into the TMC’s vote share.
“We too have fielded some Muslim candidates in Malda, Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur districts. We are hoping that in the fight between the TMC and the (Congress) alliance on the Muslim-dominated seats, the BJP gets some advantage, by either winning the seat or by the alliance denying the seat to the TMC,” considered one of these BJP leaders stated.
In truth, in line with the BJP’s inside evaluation, it’s in an in depth battle in each Matigara-Naxalbari and the Goalpokhar seats, the place Gandhi will marketing campaign on April 14. The BJP thus far has avoided publicly criticising or taking on the Congress-Left-ISF alliance in Bengal, focusing its energies on the TMC as a substitute. “It would be interesting to see who Rahul criticises more in his rallies — the BJP or the TMC,” the second chief stated.
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