Adhir Chowdhury has his revenge

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOLKATA, APRIL 30. Just before the 1996 Assembly election, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, then a Congress leader losing the intra-party battle for power, called Mr. Adhir Chowdhury, now the Congress MP, and two other Congress MLAs ``criminals.''

Mr.Chowdhury, the most colourful and influential of the three is not in the fray, but still he is grabbing the headlines. The reason is not far to seek.

One of the deciding factors in Murshidabad, Mr. Chowdhury has openly declared a war against the Congress- Trinamool alliance. Like Mr. A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, the invincible Congress MP in the neighbouring Malda, Mr. Adhir Chowdhury, rubbishing the alliance, has cleverly put up his own men as candidates in several constituencies. Apparently, Mr. Khan Choudhury's exercise in Englishbazar is finding its replication in many districts.

``It hurts deeply whenever I think of Mamata-didi's (Ms. Banerjee's) unkind comment about me. Nevertheless, I will support her when she becomes Chief Minister,'' Mr. Chowdhury told The Hindu just before setting out to campaign for the Independent candidate, Mr. Debashish Chatterjee, in Bharatpur Assembly constituency, contesting against the official Trinamool nominee.

Like Mr. Ghani Khan Choudhury in Malda, Mr. Chowdhury, at 42, too, is a myth in Murshidabad. To some people - his opponents - Mr. Chowdhury is pure terror, but for countless common people he is saviour. The poor, the hungry, the needy and the socially challenged, turn to him for succour.

Once a naxalite, Mr. Chowdhury embraced the Gandhian ideology in 1991 and joined the Congress. He became a target of the Leftists when he tried to enter the Bengal Assembly from Nabagram, a Left citadel, the same year. He failed to win the seat and retreated, but not before getting embroiled in a murder case. In 1996, the indomitable Mr. Chowdhury once again contested the election from Nabagram and won it, even though he could not enter the constituency even for a day as he had been absconding from the police. Currently, he is an influential MP from Behrampur.

``You will have to see Trinamool with a microscope in Murshidabad. How can anyone accept the Trinamool candidates imposed from top even as the Congress is in a position to win seats on its own?'' Mr. Chowdhury asked.

Last week, Ms. Banerjee got a taste of Mr. Chowdhury's popularity and stranglehold on the district which she visited to address a few public meetings in support of Trinamool's seven candidates. As expected, the meetings flopped and Ms. Banerjee left the district in a huff cursing Mr. Chowdhury. ``They (the meetings) were a damp squib,'' Mr. Chowdhury said with a smile. There was no way that the Trinamool could organise a crowd for Ms. Banerjee without Mr. Chowdhury's blessings.

But Mr. Chowdhury's blessings for Trinamool are not readily available and understandably so. The Congress had nine sitting MLAs, yet Ms. Banerjee asked for seven and got them. Mr. Chowdhury cannot be expected to be a spectator to the Congress' self-destruction in the district. He is well aware that if Ms. Banerjee gets a foothold in Murshidabad in this election, she would do everything possible to marginalise him in State politics as well as in Delhi.

``The seat-sharing arrangement has not been prudent. We were rivals till the other day. One fine morning, we were told to be friends. Can a change of heart take place so fast?'' he asks.

Mr. Chowdhury is not hiding the fact that he is backing the Independent candidates. The buzz in the grapevine is that he has propped up all the seven Independents while he insists that he is backing all the official candidates save three Independents.

Mr. Chowdhury is openly canvassing for the Independents. On Saturday(April 28), in Salar in Bharatpur Assembly constituency, about 60 km from Behrampur, he addressed a small gathering where the Independent candidate, Mr. Debashish Chatterjee, was present. ``You have seen how the CPI(M) has terrorised people. This election will be a violent one. But, do cast your ballot,'' he says in his brief speech. Not even for once he mentioned the Trinamool candidate. The voter got the signal alright. Mr. Chowdhury was asking him to vote for Mr. Chatterjee.

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