TMC on tough wicket in Krishnanagar (North)

Krishnanagar (WB), April 19: Reports of factional feuds within the party and the newly-formed CPI(M)-Congress alliance pose a tough challenge for TMC candidate and sitting MLA Abani Mohan Joardar in the Krishnanagar North constituency which goes to polls on April 21.

Joardar had won the 2011 Assembly elections from this constituency with more than 50 per cent votes. It now has 217872 eligible voters.

The TMC candidate, a former top police officer, is pitted against Congress's Asim Kumar Saha (supported by the LF) and BJP's Chanchal Kumar Biswas. Besides, also in the fray are Shiv Sena, CPI(ML), SUCI(C), and Bahujan Samjwadi Party Krishnangar has been a traditional Left bastion with a history of Naxalite movement during the late sixties and early seventies.

The Krishnanagar North Assembly constituency was formed in 2011 after the delimitation and merger of the Krishnanagar East and West.

In the 2014 parliamentary polls, BJP's candidate and former Union minister Satyabrata Mookherjee, had taken a massive lead in this Assembly segment which falls under the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The party is confident of winning this time again by taking advantage of the triangular fight. However, political equations in Krishnanagar, one of the most important towns in Nadia district, have changed a lot in the past five years.

With Mookherjee staying away from the campaign this time, the local BJP leadership is banking on Chanchal Kumar Biswas, a popular social worker.

PTI