CPM cub challenges Aroop on water, ‘land grab’ planks

Kolkata: It’s a battle of unequals at Tollygunge, a David versus Goliath fight. Pitted against Trinamool Congress heavyweight and minister Aroop Biswas is a former CPM student leader — Madhuja Sen Ray — who has been transported from her base in Jhargram to take on the seasoned politician. While Madhuja is new to the area, Biswas is a two-time winner from the constituency who enjoys considerable clout across Tollygunge.

But the issues involved could make the contest an interesting one. The city’s tinsel corner, an erstwhile Left bastion, Tollygunge has been an area in transition for the past one decade. A fast expanding city has led to rampant construction in this southern fringe, transforming the area from a refugee-colony dominated belt to an aspiring middle-class settlement. Here, political loyalties changed even before the wave of ‘paribartan’ struck in 2011. But this ti me, it is the ruling Trinamool Congress that faces the antiincumbency challenge for the first time in the constituency.

At least four wards in Tollygunge have seen indiscriminate construction, says Madhuja. Even government lands have been sold to promoters, while construction of a residential building for slumdwellers in the constituency has been stalled, Madhuja alleges. “Most importantly, water supply remains erratic in this constituency. Wards 111to 114 face a severe crisis. Despite being the borough chairman and the MLA, Biswas couldn’t ensure adequate water,” she said.

Biswas hits back saying that Madhuja isn’t yet familiar with the geography of Tollygunge. “These wards have been added to Tollygunge from Jadavpur very recently. Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the Jadavpur MLA for many years and he did nothing to improve conditions across these wards. I have initiated and completed more than 30 projects in the last four-and-half years,” claimed Biswas. He reads out a long list of projects that he has executed — extension of MR Bangur Hospital, three new police stations, widening of roads and the setting up of a 3.2 million gallon water reservoir at Prafulla Park being among them.

But the fear of extortion and the ‘promoter-raj’ patronized by Biswas far outweighed whatever little development has happened, claimed his rival. “You must pay for every construction. That is the rule here. The little development work that has happened helped to fill the pockets of Trinamool leaders,” said Madhuja. Former Trinamool leader and Tollygunge MLA Pankaj Banerjee ran a campaign to save a piece of land from promoters in the constituency. It lends credence to Madhuja’s claim, felt Partha Pratim Biswas, a Jadavpur University teacher who was the CPM candidate in 2011. “It remains to be seen how Biswas counters the anti-incumbency factor. So far, he has only gained from it. The promoter-politician nexus has also dented his party’s credibility,” said Biswas.

The Trinamool leader quashes the allegation, but admits that the anti-incumbency factor was something that he has never been faced with. “Eventually, people will judge you by the kind of work that you have done. My list is long and impressive enough to help me sail through without any resistance,” said a confident Biswas.