Falta’s ‘Pushpa’ bows out of West Bengal assembly repoll

KOLKATA: TMC’s Falta candidate Jahangir Khan announced Tuesday he would not contest the May 21 repoll in Bengal’s only assembly seat where EC ordered a fresh vote over electoral malpractice, coinciding with CM Suvendu Adhikari’s roadshow through the constituency and his appeal to voters to hand BJP victory by a margin of “at least 1 lakh”, report Tamaghna Banerjee & Dwaipayan Ghosh.

Khan, a close aide of TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, had been embroiled in a “Pushpa vs Singham” faceoff with UP-cadre IPS officer and Diamond Harbour election observer Ajay Pal Sharma before April 29 polling.

Where is Pushpa now, asks Suvendu
I want Falta to remain peaceful and prosperous... I am withdrawing myself from May 21 contest for sake of Falta’s development and benefit of its residents,” said Jahangir Khan, 41, once TMC’s key “vote organiser” in Diamond Harbour belt.

Suvendu Adhikari seized on the withdrawal as proof of BJP’s upper hand in Falta. “Where is Pushpa now? He knew he wouldn’t get a polling agent... he had little option but to run,” the Bengal CM said.

He claimed “drama” was staged because TMC foresaw certain defeat. Trinamool Congress distanced itself from the decision, saying Khan’s withdrawal was “his personal decision”.