Mamata wants to tide over sting impact, `Ram bharose'

When Mamata Banerjee was touring extensively in Bhowanipore -her home turf that goes to the polls on April 30 -on Sunday , a foot soldier in her election camp, Ram Pyare Ram, was going door-to-door in the Kidderpore area with folded hands. The veteran leader is an important cog in the wheel as far as Mamata's poll machinary is concerned, perhaps the most important one.

Stung by Narada before the crucial elections, Mamata wants to overcome the corruption hurdle 'Ram bharose'. A reason why Ram Pyare was chosen over heavyweight minister Firhad Hakim to look after large parts of Kidderpore which falls under the CM's constituency .The area could tilt the scales.After Hakim was seen in the Narada video, a sensation was created in the Port area. Mamata's best bet in the changed scenario was Ram Pyre Ram -an MLA in Kidderpore for nine consecutive terms and a KMC councillor for the past three decades.

Ram Pyare has considerable influence in the minority areas in Kidderpore which could make or mar CM's poll prospect, said a south Kolkata-based Trinamool leader. Pitching in the veteran leader in Kidderpore was a calculated move on part of the Trinamool Congress chief. The poll scenario has changed dramatically in Bhowanipore assembly seat since Mamata's win in 2011.In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP took a lead from Bhowanipore assembly segment which was beyond the prediction of political pundits. Then came the shocker in Ward 70, which falls under Bhowanipore segment, in the 2015 KMC polls. Though the BJP councillor, Asim Bose, has joined the Trinamool camp six months ago, the ruling party's poll veterans are not sure about a bright prospect from the ward which is dominated by Gujaratis. In fact, Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji's nephew and a BJP candidate in the fray from Bhowanipore, is hoping to take a good lead from Ward 70.

In such a situation, the chief minister is heavily banking on minority votes from Kidderpore. But no one in the Trinamool camp is sure about a lead from areas in Kidderpore which fall under ward No. 77. On the contrary , alliance candidate Deepa Das Munshi is ahead in the fray . Even in the last KMC polls, when the ruling party swept south Kolkata including the Port area, Forward Bloc candidate Shamima Rehan Khan could retain her turf in Ward 77. Of the 39,0000 voters in this Kidderpore ward, minority voters constitute 87%.

Desperate to take a lead from this ward, the Trinamool chief has pitched in Ram Bhaiya, as he is known in the locality, to thwart the alliance challenge. However, a section of Trinamool insiders felt that though Ram Pyre Ram is popular among Muslim voters in Kidderpore, an infighting in the party has left him jittery.

“Ram is not in good terms with Firhad Hakim. The minister deliberately fielded Anwar, a Trinamool rebel, as an independent candidate against Hema Ram, wife of Ram Pyre Ram, in the KMC polls. Hema Ram lost the battle which triggered an ego fight between Ram and Hakim. Didi intervened much later. Surprisingly , she ensured a comeback of Anwar, the rebel candidate,“ said a senior Trinamool leader.