Congress-a divided house before Assembly election

Berhampore, West Bengal, Apr 7 (UNI) With barely ten days to go for the first phase Assembly election in West Bengal, internal squabbling in the Congress in Murshidabad district have come to the fore with party heavyweight and Lok Sabha MP Adhir Chowdhury and Legislature wing leader Atish Sinha allegedly trading guns at each other.

Mr Chowdhury, dissatisfied with the the High Command's move to nominate candidates against his ''liking'' when he was the party's district president, was threatening to campaign for Independents.

The party, a divided house in this district, which had always been considered a Congress stronghold, romped home in all the Lok Sabha seats during the 2004 General elections, including Jangipur from where Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee returned to the Lower House for the first time in his political career.

Mr Chowdhury, at loggerheads with three sitting Legislators in the district, said he would campaign for party rebels contesting as Independents against the three official nominees, who, he alleged, were CPI(M) agents.

He had demanded that Mr Sinha's candidature from Kandi constituency in Murshidabad and also that of Mayarani Pal in Berhampur and Niyamat Sheikh at Hariharpara be withdrawn and cautioned that if the demands were not conceded, the WBPCC would face a strong revolt.

Mr Chowdhury asserted that he would stay away from the town as it would be unethical for him to work for the Independents from the district Congress committee headquarters.

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