Author: Our Bureau
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: April 14, 2003
A day after chief minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee's appeal to his own party cadre to desist from terrorising
candidates of other parties in the run-up to the panchayat elections, the
CPM allegedly prevented two RSP candidates from filing nominations in Basanti
and Canning, both in South 24-Parganas.
Flooded with complaints from the
Trinamul Congress and the Congress, Bhattacharjee had to issue a public
statement yesterday urging CPM workers to see to it that candidates from
other political parties could file their nominations. He also made it clear
that the police administration would take firm steps to ensure free and
fair elections.
"But the CPM cadre turned a deaf
ear to Bhattacharjee's appeal. They not only prevented our candidates from
filing nominations in Canning and Basanti today but heckled them and set
their houses on fire to terrorise them," complained Subhas Naskar, the
RSP secretary of South 24-Parganas and a local MLA.
The RSP, a partner in the ruling
coalition, is learnt to have taken up the matter with Left Front chairman
Biman Bose. "If the CPM members do not spare our candidates, imagine what
happens to the candidates from the Opposition parties," Naskar said. The
CPM cadre did not even bother to listen to the chief minister, he added
while regretting that the much-hyped unity bid among the Front partners
did not mean much at the grassroots level because of the CPM's "Big Brother
attitude".
Local CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty
dismissed the RSP's allegation and said members of the smaller front constituents
had terrorised CPM supporters in the Basanti-Canning belt because these
parties held sway over the region for years.
Additional superintendent of police
S.S. Panda, who has been camping in the area, said the Rapid Action Force
was deployed after supporters of both the parties clashed. He confirmed
that some of the houses were set ablaze and looted. At least 12 people
were injured.
Even as the South 24-Parganas leaders
of the CPM and the RSP traded charges, the chief minister reiterated that
the Front had "set an example to the world" by returning to power in the
state for the sixth consecutive time.
Addressing a rally at Dubrajpur
in Birbhum, he also reminded that the front was conducting elections to
the three-tier panchayat set-up for the sixth time. Decentralisation of
power at the panchayat level will help the rural people "enjoy power",
he said.
The rural polls, threatening to
get bloody, prompted an alarmed West Midnapore administration to declare
10 police stations as "trouble-prone".
Officials in the district intelligence
today said trouble might erupt at Pingla, Sabang, Garbeta, Salboni, Goaltor,
Jamboni, Binpur, Belpahari and Lalgarh in the run-up to the polls. Activists
from the ruling CPM and the Opposition parties have already been involved
in skirmishes.
"We have taken all possible measures
to ensure peace on the basis of intelligence reports about the possible
trouble," said district superintendent of police K.C. Meena. Two more police
outposts have been set up at Pingla and Lakmipalia and a circle inspector
has been asked to oversee the law and order situation there, he added.
The police have also launched a
drive to nab known criminals. Additional superintendent, Kharagpur, Manoj
Verma said those arrested would not be released before the elections.