Cong annoyed over Ratua candidate

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 29. — The Congress leaders are apprehending “bitter” results after the declaration of the name of its candidate for Ratua constituency in Malda. They also feared another sabotage by Congress workers during election. The Congress, though, is determined to defeat Mr Sailen Sarkar, the CPI-M candidate from Ratua and a state minister. The Congress candidate, Mr Asit Bose, as proposed by the Union minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, was humiliated yesterday when he went to visit the site where more than 130 huts were gutted and the people rendered homeless in Ratua constituency. On the other hand, one of the close contenders for Congress ticket, Mr Samar Roy, who had once been an MLA of the Ratua constituency, has expressed his unhappiness and decided to nominate another candidate there managing a ticket from the other Opposition parties. It was also learnt that an Independent candiate would be fielded by the anti-group of Mr Das Munshi in Ratua constituency. The Ratua people, who wanted a local candidate, have also expressed their unhappiness over the decision and are waiting for the visit of Congress leader, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi to their constituency. “It is very tough to defeat Mr Sailen Sarkar now,” said a local Congress leader, Mr Soumitra Roy, who is also an office-bearer of the Congress-led Malda Zilla Parishad. “If Mr Samar Mukherjee contests here, there is no chance of CPI-M’s candidate,” Mr Roy told earlier. It may be recalled that when the Congress leaders Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury and the Union minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee took decision to nominate Mr Mukherjee, another Congress stalwart, Mr Das Munshi, had opposed the move and recommended Mr Bose’s name.