After Surya, Subhas Naskar faces public backlash

Local people on Saturday staged a demonstration when RSP candidate and former state Irrigation minister Subhas Naskar went to  Basanti for campaigning.

Local people alleged that in the past five years they did not see Naskar in the area and so he had no right to organise a rally in the area. Naskar is pitted against Govindra Chandra Naskar of Trinamool Congress.

It may be recalled that local people had staged a demonstration when CPI(M) state secretary Suryakanta Misra went to his constituency at Narayangarh on 11 April on similar ground.

The trouble started this morning when Naskar along with Left Front and Congress workers had assembled near the market to take part in a rally. Local people shouted slogans against Naskar and told him that as he did not visit the area in the past five years he had no right to organise a rally. The attempts of the political workers to pacify local people failed and women showed broomsticks along with shouting slogan. Naskar was defeated in 2011. The police took him away.

Later, Naskar alleged that Trinamool Congress workers had stopped him from campaigning in the area. He said he had reported the matter to the Election Commission. He said “If adequate arrangements are not made then voters will not be able to exercise their franchise freely.”

On April 11, hundreds of villagers shouted slogans against Dr Surya Kanta Mishra, the state CPI(M) secretary and the party’s candidate from Narayangarh Assembly seat, got down from his vehicle to reach a polling station to keep a tab on the election progress.

Dr Mishra was repeatedly gheraoed at five different places in Naraygarh. Mishra had won the seat in Assembly election in 2011 by 7,109 votes. 

It will be tough fight for him to retain the seat because Trinamool Congress was ahead from this Assembly constituency in 2014 Lok Sabha polls by 2,6395 votes and Congress had bagged 4,097 votes. 

On Monday, Dr Mishra was found moving around with a list of sensitive booths from where Left Front had previously performed well in the elections.