Dhupguri bypoll in North Bengal puts INDIA opposition bloc's unity to test
opposition bloc faces a crucial test in the upcoming bypoll in Dhupguri assembly segment as its important constituents, TMC and Congress-CPI(M) alliance, fight it out against each other to wrest the rural seat in North Bengal from the BJP. The bypoll on September 5 is also a litmus test for all three political outfits, with the BJP hoping to check its erosion in its vote share and retain the seat, the TMC aiming to wrest the tribal-dominated assembly segment and the CPI(M)-Congress alliance hoping to regain its traditional seat.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of its sitting BJP MLA Bishu Pada Ray earlier this year.
Dotted by tea gardens, the seat in Jalpaiguri district is an agricultural settlement with a considerable population of Rajbanshis and Matua communities, who voted for the saffron camp in the 2021 assembly polls.
The constituency also has around 15 per cent minority population.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim and Congress president Adhir Rajan Chowdhury held a massive rally in Dhupguri, hitting out at both the TMC and the BJP, as their central leadership was holding brainstorming session with the TMC and other anti-BJP parties at the third INDIA opposition meet to discuss the strategy to defeat the saffron camp in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Although the CPI(M), Congress and TMC have dubbed it as local elections, with no bearings on opposition unity efforts, the BJP has gone hammer and tongs pointing at the frictions in the INDIA camp.
«It is a local election and has nothing to do with the INDIA opposition bloc. At the local level, we are fighting our own battle,» state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said the fight in Bengal is against both
