Varun wanted for Malda campaign

MALDA, March 25: The BJP candidate for Pilibhit, Mr Varun Gandhi, seems to be much in demand here, the controversy over the communal remarks attributed to him notwithstanding.

BJP leaders in Malda district have urged the party’s state leadership to invite Mr Gandhi to pay a visit for poll campaigning.

The BJP candidate for the North Malda Parliamentary seat, Mr Amlan Bhaduri, said senior party leaders Mr LK Advani, Mr Narendra Modi, Mrs Sushma Swaraj and Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini have been selected for poll campaigning in West Bengal. Any two of them might visit Malda for poll campaigning, he said.

“Due to security reasons Mr Modi’s visit to Malda is uncertain, but we are trying hard to bring Mr Varun Gandhi here,” Mr Bhaduri said.

Another leader of the state BJP, Mr Asim Chakraborty, said: “We have already sent a proposal to the central leadership asking Mr Varun Gandhi to address a rally in the Muslim-dominated Kaliachak belt, which is under the South Malda parliamentary constituency.”

Playing the Hindu card, Mr Bhaduri is confident of securing a fairly large portion of the Hindu votes in North Malda, where Hindus form nearly 65 per cent of the electorate.

In the meantime, Mr Bhaduri is trying hard to clear the confusion among the people that has arisen out of the BJP and the Congress together having formed civic bodies in the rural belt.

“In national politics, the Congress is our main enemy. In Malda zilla parishad, we had projected our member as saha sabhadhipati because the Congress did not have a Scheduled Tribe member for the reserved post,” Mr Bhaduri said. The BJP nominee had finally been elected as saha sabhadhipati.

In the Hindu-dominated Barind belt, there are at least five gram panchayats where the Congress, BJP and Trinamul Congress combined to form the boards after the last rural polls. It’s no surprise then that the voters are confused about who’s hooked up with whom.

Mr Bhaduri has brushed aside talks of a deal with the Congress here to swing the BJP’s votes to the Congress. n SNS (END)