Kolkata, Oct. 1 -- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari sought to turn the political tide in Murshidabad's Rejinagar on Thursday, declaring that "communal politics" would no longer work in the constituency and claiming that people would stand with the BJP in the October 6 bypoll.
Addressing an election rally, Adhikari claimed that members of the minority community who had never voted for the BJP had told him they would not "waste" their votes this time.
He appealed to voters to back BJP candidate Sakharav Sarkar and made a strong development pitch to the predominantly Muslim electorate.
Adhikari promised to transform Rejinagar into a "model Assembly seat" if the BJP wins the bypoll, seeking to shift the campaign focus from identity politics to development.
"Rejinagar will stand with the government in this bypoll. I am confident that the BJP candidate will emerge victorious. Communal polarisation will not work in Rejinagar this time. Minorities who didn't vote for the BJP all these years have said they will not waste their votes in this election," Adhikari said.
He also pledged a 200-bed hospital, a college, a bridge, new industries and five milk collection centres over the next one-and-a-half years. Adhikari promised to set up a public service centre in Rejinagar in the name of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, similar to initiatives he said had been undertaken in Bhowanipore and Nandigram.
He also promised to bring back 40,000 migrant workers from outside the state within two years and ensure 125 days of work over the next six months at Rs 300 a day, amounting to Rs 37,500, along with an additional Rs 3,000 under the PM-Kisan Yojana.
Adhikari said industrial activity would begin taking shape in Rejinagar within the next one-and-a-half years, with the aim of creating unskilled jobs for migrant workers who had moved to states such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
"My Hindu brothers will say 'Jai Shri Ram' and my minority brothers will say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'," Adhikari said.
He added: "From village after village, minorities who had not voted for the BJP till now are standing in queues, shaking hands with the CM and saying that they will not waste their votes."
The Chief Minister visited the memorial of Mir Madan, commander of the Nawab of Bengal's forces at the Battle of Plassey, and the home of six-year-old Jasmina Khatun, who died on Tuesday after suffering critical injuries while trying to collect lozenges thrown from an election campaign vehicle during a Democratic Trinamool Congress roadshow. Adhikari promised assistance to the girl's family after the election.
Adhikari also targeted Trinamool Congress over the bitter split in the party, saying its organisational crisis came to the fore within months of the Assembly polls. "Just four months have passed, and the TMC party, both its name and symbol, has disappeared," he said. He also claimed that the split and "destruction" of the TMC was the result of the "sins" it committed during the 15-year rule in West Bengal.
The Chief Minister also criticised Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir over his recent remarks against him. "The language Humayun Kabir is using is condemnable," the Chief Minister stated. He also accused Kabir of having "betrayed the Congress, BJP and other parties" and attempting to "betray the people by using communal politics."
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, a vessel carrying Suvendu Adhikari temporarily got stuck in the Bhagirathi River while he was travelling to the election rally in support of BJP candidate Sarkar for the Rejinagar bypolls.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.