Drinking water takes over scams in TMC poll talk

Kolkata: Unfazed by the series of scam allegations that his party faces, Trinamool's Entally candidate Swarna Kamal Saha asserted that clean drinking water was far more important than Saradha and Narada to the voters.
Saha won from Entally in 2011 by a margin of 24,996 votes, bagging 75,891 votes.
Saha is facing Debesh Das, the CPM candidate and former IT minister in the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government.Das had won from the pre-delimited Talatola seat in 1991, 2001 and 2006.
Oozing with confidence, Das said, "I don't want to go into the scams trailing the Trinamool. I am going by voter's disillusionment, which is tangible this time. I asked them about last five year's work and there's no answer."
Entally covers KMC wards 54, 55, 56, 58 and 59 where law and order, rather the lack of it—CPM calls it TMC-sponsored terrorism—has emerged as an important poll issue. Among several incidents, the opposition has highlighted how former Trinamool councillor Shambhunath Kow accused sitting MLA Saha of framing him for the murder of party colleague Adhir Maity in March last year at Mathpukur in Dhapa.
CPM is counting on the 34% Muslim votes, in the area to swing the results this time around, in their favour, whereas, while observers said the Trinamool might find it difficult to hold on to its 56% vote share of 2011 assembly elections. The CPM lost 11% vote share in 2011, managing 37% of the votes. BJP's Sudhir Pandey, contesting this time as well, managed to win a paltry 2.3% of the vote share. "What affects the voters most? Sarada, Narada or drinking water?" The question was posed by Trinamool's Entally candidate Swarna Kamal Saha. In 2011, Saha won this seat by a margin of 24,996 votes, bagging 75,891 votes.
He is facing Debesh Das, who had won from the pre-delimited Talatola seat in 1991, 2001 and 2006, yet again. The former IT minister in the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is also oozing confidence. "I don't want to go into the scams trailing the Trinamool. I am going by voter's disillusionment, which is tangible this time. I have only asked them what work has been done in these five years. There's no answer," said Das, countering Saha's claim of "solving Entally's water crisis to a great extent" with a newspaper clipping showing water containers lined up in the Dhapa area. Entally covers KMC's wards 54, 55, 56, 58 and 59, where law and order (the CPM's calling it TMC-sponsored terrorism) is an important election issue. Among several incidents, it is highlighting how former Trinamool councilor Shambhunath Kow had accused the sitting MLA, Saha, of framing him for the murder of party colleague Adhir Maity in March, last year at Mathpukur area of Dhapa.
Entally also has 34 % Muslims, whom the CPM is counting on, to swing votes in its favour so that it can win back the Left dominion for over four decades -- CPM stalwarts who won from here include Md Selim and the late Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim in the pre-delimitation era. Observers revealed that the Trinamool might find it difficult its 56 % vote share of 2011 – the CPM, on the other hand, lost 11 of its share to get 37 % votes. The BJP's Sudhir Pandey, contesting this time as well, had finished a poor third 2.3 % vote share.
This will be Saha's third stint as MLA. He was elected for the first time from Bowbazar in the 2009 bypoll. In the historic 2011 polls, the president of Bengal Bus Syndicate won the seat, and since then there's been no looking back. The Trinamool Congress continued to get huge leads from here in the 2014 Lok Sabha and the 2015 KMC polls.