BJP to contest Balagarh Assembly byelection

Kolkata, Dec 4 (UNI) The BJP will contest the December 29 Balagarh Assembly byelection in West Bengal.

Talking to newspersons here today, state party BJP general secretary Rahul Sinha said, '' Abiding by the wishes of the party's Hooghly district committee, the state committee has decided to contest the Balagarh Assembly bypoll. We registered five per cent vote in the last Assembly election in Balagarh. '' '' We will decide on our candidate tomorrow and send the proposal to Delhi for approval, '' he said.

Referring to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's appeal for an anti-CPI(M) secular platform in the state, Mr Sinha said the party did not receive any such call from the Opposition.

The byelection was necessitated following the death of CPI(M) Legislator Dibakanta Rout.

He said if controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen could withdraw some lines from her novel ''Dwikhandito'' to assuage the feelings of the Muslim community, she should also withdraw a few lines from her book '' Lajja'', which was a ''direct attack on the Hindu community''.

UNI