Salt Lake's anger is TMC's biggest worry

KOLKATA: He is proud of his history of `slaying Goliaths'.He had defeated his mentor, late CPM minister Subhas Chakraborty , in his own backyard. No wonder Trinamool's Sujit Bose is confident of a good show against Left-backed Congress candidate Arunava Ghosh. His main opponent, however, is the collective memory of the violence unleashed in the civic polls six months ago.On October 3 last year, 22 journalists were beaten up as goons from outside and fake voters flooded the township, took over booths, hurled bombs and assaulted residents who dared to protest. So when 28 wards of the newly formed corporation and wards 19, 20 and 28 to 35 go to the polls on April 25, fear of a rerun will loom large on the middleclass suburbia.Bose is fervently counting on the 1 lakh-odd voters outside Salt Lake. On campaign trails, he keeps reminding them of the parks, streetlights and the Big Ben replica he has built during his two stints as MLA (2004-2009 and 2011-16).In Salt Lake, however, Ghosh has a lot to do to assuage voters' angst. Salt Lake residents are also not happy with the Trinamool government's decision to merge Salt Lake and Rajarhat. They feel the move is already depriving them of the attention a `VIP township' deserves.A panic-stricken chief minister had carved out the corporation last year when the Salt Lake assembly segment gave BJP a lead of 6,489 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.Desperate not to lose the Salt Lake boaed, Mamata merged the township with Rajarhat, a Trinamool stronghold, thus neutralizing the BJP surge ahead of the civic polls. Since BJP is not in the reckoning any more, Bose is confident.“The non-Bengalis (about 30% of the electorate) will support me,“ he says.But psephologist and RBU's political science professor Biswanath Chakraborty isn't sure where the floating BJP votes will go. “The jote chemistry may work wonders here,“ he says, adding, “There's no intrigue around BJP's low-profile Sushanta Ranjan Pal.“ But Ghosh is a household name, thanks to his Mamata-bashing sessions on television. He has also got CPM's organizational strength to bank upon.A crucial factor is Bose's rift with Salt Lake mayor Sabyasachi Dutta. The mayor's swearing by syndicates may backfire on Trinamool. “Salt Lake is already bogged with law and order problems. It now has syndicates to contend with,“ rues retired IPS Banipada Saha, who seethes at the mention of “syndicate“.A citizens' forum has been set up to prevent a replay of the October 3 violence. And they are supporting Ghosh with the slogan, “Nijer vote nije din“ (cast your own vote).“Ghosh, a well known lawyer, said: “The township belongs to educated people. We can't have lumpens grabbing votes and endangering democracy .“