On getting South over North, BJP leader refuses to contest polls

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 13: The BJP's proposed candidate for the South Malda Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Biswapriya Roy Choudhury, has refused to contest the seat, citing unhappiness over the role of the district leadership. He made the announcement just before the BJP's finalisation of its list of candidates in the state.

Mr Roy Choudhury, one of the BJP's state secretaries, had hoped to contest the North Malda parliamentary constituency, but the district president did not propose his name for the seat.

The BJP state committee earlier selected Mr Roy Choudhury for North Malda after the district committee did not send the list of proposed candidates for North and South Malda within the stipulated time. But the district president Mr Jatindranath Ghosh sent a list of proposed candidates, suggesting that the South Malda ticket be offered to Mr Roy Choudhury. The district president also proposed to offer the North Malda ticket to Mr Amlan Bhaduri.

The two leaders are keen to contest North Malda because the constituency is dominated by Hindus.

“I wanted to contest from North Malda and the state committee selected me for this seat. But the district president (Jantin-da) preferred to give the ticket to Mr Amlan Bhaduri ignoring the state's leadership. The state president Julu-da (Mr Satyabrata Mukherjee) today called me to accept the offer for South Malda but I finally refused”, said Mr Roy Choudhury.

Expressing unhappiness over the role of the district leadership, he said: “I do not have the mental preparation to fight an election from South Malda because it is a Muslim-domiciled belt”. Mr Roy Choudhury has contested Malda Parliamentary by-polls since the death of ABA Mr Ghani Khan Choudhury. District BJP party sources said the state had selected Mr Amlan Bhaduri for North Malda and Mr Dipak Choudhury for South Malda parliamentary seats.