JOIN US“We have decided to field candidates against SUCI nominees in Joynagar and Kultali that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee left for the SUCI as it has put up candidates against us in 29 other seats,” state Congress spokesman Om Prakash Mishra told PTI.
He said that while former MP Manoranjan Haldar would contest from Joynagar, district Congress leader Sujit Patwari would file nomination from the Kultali seat.
The SUCI will contest 31 assembly seats, among them West Midnapore’s Sabang and Birbhum’s Nalhati.
The Congress leadership is irritated at this as WBPCC chief Manas Bhuniya is seeking re-election from Sabang and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit is making his electoral debut in Nalhati — a traditional Left bastion.
“The SUCI has fielded candidates against us in 45 per cent of the 65 seats we are contesting. We waited till the last day of withdrawal on April 4 for the first phase of the polling scheduled on April 18,” Mishra said.
Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said here on Sunday that the party did not have an alliance with the SUCI and would speak to the Trinamool Congress.