Two women look to upstage CM Sarkar in his bastion
Two women candidates from the BJP and the Congress are confident of defeating Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar in his constituency in the February 18 polls.
Sarkar is locked in a quadrangular contest in his home constituency of Dhanpur, where Jahir Uddin from the Trinamool Congress is the fourth candidate.
Sarkar, Tripura’s longestserving chief minister, is fighting for a fifth consecutive term and is hopeful that the “peace-loving people would exercise their franchise to elect a Left government for the eighth time.” But his opponents— Pratima Bhowmik of the BJP and Congress candidate Lakshmi Nag — believe they can upstage him.
This is the second time that Pratima Bhowmik, a senior BJP leader and also party’s general secretary, is contesting against Sarkar. She had fought against him in 1998 for the Dhanpur seat and lost. Sarkar went on to become the CM for the first time in 1998 and has been winning from the seat since then.
With a population of over 43,000 Dhanapur, which falls in Sonamura sub division is heavily by Muslims. But that has not deterred Bhowmik who is hoping for a saffron surge fuelled by people’s anger against the government for ‘under development’. “The chief minister’s constituency is devoid of proper civic amenities like drinking water, health care, road, educational institutions and others despite the Left Front being in power for so many years. People have grudges against Sarkar for under development in this constitupopulated ency. People want a change now at any cost,” said Bhowmik.
She promised to solve all the civic problems if she wins the elections and said she would set up a college.
“It is a direct fight between CPM and BJP. There are attempts to suppress our campaign, but it would be of no use. People irrespective of their religion, caste or creed, want to end Manikraj,” she said.
The Congress, which is playing catch-up in the polls, faces an uphill task of beating the Left and restrain the BJP’s growth.
Congress candidate Lakshmi Nag said that deprivation under Left regime and communal attitude of the BJP would make space for the grand old party.
“The Left failed to improve the people’s lives. Manik Sarkar never thought of his own home constituency which has made the people look for an alternative party. And BJP deals in communal or divisive politics. So people have only one choice left – Congress that believes in people’s welfare,” Nag said.
Nag came into politics in her college days by becoming member of Congress’s student wing, NSUI. She became an MLA for first time after Tripura attained statehood in 1972.
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