Nandigram: TMC changes Zilla Parishad candidate

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) is learnt to have dropped its Nandigram leader Sheikh Sufian from the list of Zilla Parishad candidates and has also convinced him not to contest the polls as an independent candidate.

Sources said the party replaced Sufian amid discontent among a section of its workers on Wednesday night. Sufian is learnt to have been replaced with another party leader, Shamsul Islam.

It is learnt that the two factions led by these two leaders had entered into argument over Sufian’s name initially surfacing as the candidate.

A TMC insider said that the inception of the problem lies in the fact that initially it was decided that Shamshul would be the candidate since during the Nabajowar campaign led by Abhishek Banerjee, Shamshul had got about 71 votes as the preferred choice of candidate than Sufian who had got only seven votes. Hence, a section of the party workers were enraged after they came to know that Sufian will be contesting instead.

Kunal Ghosh who is the coordinator for East Midnapore, is learnt to have reached the spot at night took measures in this regard. He also is learnt to have convinced Sufian about not contesting as an independent candidate either.

Meanwhile, Sufian, who was a prominent face during the Nandigram protest and was the election agent of TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly election, said he is a worker of the party and will follow the party instructions. He assured that he will continue to work for the party even after being deprived of a ticket.