Denied ticket, outgoing Trinamool MP accuses party of nominating only moneyed candidates

Kolkata, March 30 (IANS) Weeks after the Trinamool Congress announced its list of candidates for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, there seems to be no end to infighting in the party over the selection of candidates.

Denied a ticket this time, the two-time party Lok Sabha member from Arambagh constituency in Hooghly District, Aparupa Poddar has indirectly accused the party leadership of looking at the financial aspect while making the selection of candidates.

She told a section of the media that since she does not have a strong financial backing it was probably the reason the party leadership did not re-nominate her.

Without naming anyone she blamed one influential Lok Sabha member and two ministers who belong to the Hooghly District, for playing a role in re-nomination being denied to her as they were aware of her financial condition.

She said they might have presented the matter to the party’s leadership in such a manner that the latter thought it wise not to re-nominate her.

Aparupa Poddar made her debut in parliamentary politics after winning the Lok Sabha elections by a massive margin of 3.46 lakh votes in 2014 from Arambagh, traditionally a CPI(M) bastion since 1980.

However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections her victory margin came down to just 1,042 votes.

This time the Trinamool Congress has replaced her with grassroots worker Mitali Bag as the party candidate.

Aparupa Poddar is not the first outgoing Lok Sabha member to vent her ire after being denied re-nomination.

First it was Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore constituency Arjun Singh, who turned rebel after being denied re-nomination and even went back to the BJP, which has nominated him as the party candidate this time.

The party’s outgoing Lok Sabha member from Bardhaman-Purba constituency in East Burdwan District, Sunil Mondal, after being denied a ticket, claimed that a section of the district leadership misled the top Trinamool leadership against him, which cost him a chance to get re-nominated.