REJINAGAR (MURSHIDABAD): The second act of the Rejinagar bypoll drama unfolded on Sunday, with AJUP chief Humayun Kabir, who won the seat four-and-a-half months ago, announcing that he would not campaign for his son and party candidate Golam Nabi Azad, citing “hostility” from the administration.Hours later, he said his son, too, would stay away from electioneering.Kabir’s statements came a day after the flip-flop by Mamata All India Trinamool Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, who had said on Saturday morning that he would withdraw his nomination for the Oct 6 bypoll, only to retract his statement in the afternoon.“I have decided not to campaign,” Kabir said. “Whoever I meet is being arrested or threatened. They have arrested 25 party workers… I will speak to voters through social media. I will hit the ground on poll day to prevent vote loot.”Lashing out at police for their alleged bias, Kabir said, “They forget that they get paid by taxpayers to abide by the Constitution… If they are so keen to get involved in politics, why don’t they give up their uniform and start campaigning with BJP flags? Let them do what they want to; I will do whatever needs to be done on Oct 6. If that leads to 10 murders, so be it. My people can get killed, their people can get killed, too.”Later, he announced, “As per the party’s latest decision, our candidate, Golam Nabi Azad, will also stay away from campaigning. Our party no longer needs to campaign. We will accept people’s verdict.”n the recent assembly elections, Kabir got over 51% of the votes polled in Rejinagar and won by a margin of 58,876 votes. He also won from Naoda and chose to give up Rejinagar.Many AJUP seniors have been arrested in the run-up to the bypoll. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, cops arrested Manjur Rahman, Haq Mullick, Abdul Alim and Mohammad Nasim Sheikh.Mamata Trinamool candidate Chowdhury, who hit the campaign trail on Sunday after a day of flip-flop, issued a list of party seniors who he said would campaign for him. The list included Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra. Party MLA Kunal Ghosh, also on the list, did not confirm the participation of the heavyweights in the Rejinagar campaign. “Nothing can be said now. There is a bigger battle to be fought to get back the party name and symbol. It is an emotive issue for us,” he said.“I know my rivals have started campaigning. But in an election, strategy is a must. We received the symbol a day ago,” Chowdhury said after a “strategy meeting” attended by Mamata Trinamool’s Kaliganj and Jalangi MLAs, Alifa Ahmed and Babar Ali.“We will compare 15 years of the Mamata Banerjee administration with four months of BJP governance. Every day, 50-70 women turn up at the local BDO office as their names have been struck off the Annapurna list,” Chowdhury said.Referring to the new ‘football player’ symbol, Alifa said, “Symbols will not be a factor. People know Mamata Banerjee and who stands by them.”
