Ekla cholo re — Adhir fights on to come up trumps 6th time

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, May 16

Tagore’s famous song “Ekla cholo re” was written when the movement against the 1905 Partition of Bengal was sweeping the province.

No Cong top campaigner visited his seat

• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has won the Baharampur seat five times consecutively, but he has been given a wide berth by the Congress top leadership
• None of party’s top campaigners, such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi, visited the constituency to seek votes for him
• “Even the observer appointed by the AICC for West Bengal — Ghulam Ahmed Mir — remained aloof with regard to the contest in Baharampur and did not call up Chowdhury to find out if everything went well,” a source close to Chowdhury said

Supporters of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), say the song written more than a century ago could appropriately describe the solitary fight put up by Chowdhury to keep winning the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat.

There is no dearth of feathers in Chowdhury’s cap. He is Leader of the Congress in the outgoing Lok Sabha, member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

Despite wearing so many hats, Chowdhury, who has won the Baharampur seat five times consecutively, has been given a wide berth by the Congress top leadership.

None of Congress’ top campaigners, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi, visited the constituency to seek votes for Chowdhury.

“Even the observer appointed by the AICC for West Bengal — Ghulam Ahmed Mir — remained aloof with regard to the contest in Baharampur and did not call up Chowdhury to find out if everything went well,” a source close to Chowdhury said.

Voting took place in Baharampur in the fourth phase on May 13 and multiple instances of poll malpractices by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress were reported from Salar town in the Bharatpur Assembly segment. On Wednesday, the state Congress unit wrote to the Election Commission to conduct re-poll at eight booths in Salar in view of alleged rigging, intimidation and malpractices indulged in by TMC supporters.

Niloy Pramanik, an office-bearer of the state Congress, has sent the complaint to the ECI saying the malpractices could affect the poll outcome.

A lone ranger, Chowdhury, himself, however, exuded confidence about winning the election by a handsome margin despite what allegedly took place in Salar and despite his bitter rivalry with the ruling TMC president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee whom he calls out for “perpetrating violence on Congress workers”.

Sources close to Chowdhury said the Congress lost the Baharampur seat to the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) in 1998 by a difference of close to two lakh votes.

Chowdhury entered the fray in 1999 and has retained the segment since then. Despite that, he continues to be snubbed by the top leadership. There are sections that believe that he was the reason why the TMC did not strike an alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha poll in Bengal. Congress’ reluctance to campaign for Chowdhury has been taken advantage of by the TMC. It has been accusing Chowdhury of being hand in glove with the BJP.

Asim Saha, a resident, says, “Dada has a Robin Hood image that stood him in good stead in previous elections. It is going to work this time as well.”

Adhir is facing a challenge from former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who has been fielded by the TMC with an eye on the Muslim votes.

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