JOIN USIn a major change in electoral strategy, the Left Front is going to polls for the first time, projecting it’s chief ministerial candidate.
The Left campaign will be spearheaded by CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is touted as the next chief minister, if the party comes to power.
While the Left Front had taken a similar tactics in 2006 and 2011, where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was unofficially advertised as it’s face of campaign, this is the first time Mishra is being officially projected as the chief ministerial candidate. The buzz was that Mishra was not keen on contesting the polls this time just like former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former industries minister Nirupam Sen and senior leader Gautam Deb, who all declined tickets on health grounds.
Moreover, the Left has never fielded a senior mandarin like the CPM state secretary. However, since he doubled up as the Opposition leader in the state Assembly, the Left felt his candidature was crucial to its cause.
Mishra was earlier expected to contest from a seat in Kolkata, preferably Jadavpur, which Bhattacharjee had lost in 2011, but later it was decided that he will contest from Narayangarh in West Midnapore, a seat he has been winning since 1991.
The matter was finally put to rest on Monday when the CPM announced its list of candidates. Given Mishra’s overtures towards formulating the proposed alliance with the Congress, the state CPM leadership felt that it was of utmost importance for Mishra to contest the polls.