Kolkata: It was almost two years back before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, that former West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, made a public appearance.
In that rally of Left Front at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, he tried to motivate his party supporters by his presence though he was unable to take the stage. However, that effort did not yield anything positive for the Left Front as in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. On the other hand the front’s vote share came down to just seven per cent.
However, that decline in vote share could not result in a decline in craze for Bhattacharjee among the Left Front supporters. A section of CPI(M) still feels that even with this failing health Bhattacharjee can turn out to be a game-changer. Now in the midst of the West Bengal assembly polls, the former chief minister has become relevant again. On Tuesday, an audio message of Bhattacharjee was circulated, through which he tried to motivate his party workers.
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Incidentally, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, made a controversial statement while referring to the incidence of police firing at Nandigram on March 14, 2007. Without naming anyone she blamed her opponent contestant in Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari and the latter’s father, Sishir Adhikari.
The left Front supporters have jumped to action and quoting the chief minister’s controversial comment, they are campaigning that the-then Bhattacharjee- led Left Front government had no role behind the police firing. A written statement by Bhattacharjee in this regard has also been circulated.
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Now the question is whether this attempt to regain public confidence will be fruitful or not. In fact, there were lots of discussions on whether Bhattacharjee will give any audio message in the United Front’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 2, 2021. However, nothing of that happened.
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Political observers feel that in March 2 rally, the Left Front leaders were overwhelmed by the presence of Indian Secular Front (ISF)- founder, Abbas Siddique that they forgot to mention Bhattacharjee's name even once. SO naturally the question becomes relevant on whether this last moment release of Bhattacharjee’s audio message will at all reap any benefit for Left Front.
