Workers of both Trinamul Congress and BJP are getting worried about health issues of their candidates contesting against each other in Basirhat Lok Sabha (LS) constituency in North 24-Parganas, where elections will be held on 1 June.
Trinamul Congress has fielded Hazi Nurul Islam while Rekha Patra, a BJP nominated candidate, will take on the former in Basirhat.
Local leaders and workers of both parties are deeply concerned with the illness of their respective candidates.
Mr Islam was admitted to a premier private hospital along the EM Bypass in the city last week with pneumonia and fever. He was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) following an infection in his right lung.
Trinamul Congress insiders in Basirhat said that he has been discharged from hospital a couple of days ago but he is not completely fit to kick off campaigns in Basirhat constituency comprising seven Assembly seats braving the scorching heat.
The ongoing election campaigns for him in the constituency may lose momentum hardly one month and eight days ahead of 1 June when Bashirhat will go for elections in the final seven phase, the party insiders felt.
Speculation is rife that the Trinamul Congress leadership may change the candidate in Basirhat if Mr Islam falls ill again. The party leadership has nominated him considering more than 46 per cent minority vote banks in the constituency.
Basirhat is a prestigious seat for all the three main contesting political parties – Trinamul Congress, BJP and CPM – after the incident of violence including physical attacks allegedly sponsored by local ruling party workers on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on 5 January when the latter raided the house of Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with his alleged involvement in the public distribution system (PDS) scam in the state.
Shahjahan, a Trinamul Congress strongman and a member of the party-ruled zilla parishad in North 24-Parganas who allegedly had masterminded the attacks on the central investigating agency officials, was arrested by police on 29 February, 55 days after 5 January since when he was absconding.
The Sandeshkhali incident rocked the nation prompting the BJP’s central leadership to make it a national issue ahead of the general elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended an election rally in Basirhat in March and slammed Trinamul Congress for unleashing terror in the Sandeshkhali island.
With the recommendation of Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, the party leadership nominated Mrs Patra, a much-publicised ‘face of protest’ against the Sandeshkhali incident. The PM had also called her up and appreciated her courage to lead the protest movement against atrocities on women in the island allegedly by Shahjahan and his associates.
But she also fell ill frequently during campaigns during the past couple of weeks. She was hospitalized twice and later discharged.
BJP’s local leadership felt that their candidate’s repeated illness hampers campaigns for the party at a time when arch-rival CPM’s candidate Nirapada Sardar is reaching out to people in Basirhat constituency regularly to intensify mass contacts ahead of polls.