NCPI offers to campaign for BJP in Bengal bypolls; ruling party rejects alliance possibility

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) Tuesday said it would campaign for BJP candidates in the October 6 Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls, marking its first significant electoral cooperation with the party in West Bengal since 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs moved to the outfit and extended support to the BJP-led NDA.

The BJP’s state unit, however, sought to draw a clear line between accepting the NCPI’s campaign support and entering into an electoral alliance. With the NCPI not fielding candidates in either constituency, its president Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay said the party had decided to campaign for the BJP nominees as part of its alignment with the NDA.

BJP draws alliance line

“It is good that the NCPI has decided to campaign for the BJP. But it does not mean that the BJP and the NCPI can have any electoral alliance in Bengal or any form of seat sharing in future,” BJP state spokesperson Sayantan Basu said.

The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath in Nandigram and Sakharav Sarkar in Rejinagar. The bypolls, scheduled for October 6 with counting on October 9, were necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Aam Janata Unnayan Party founder Humayun Kabir vacated the two seats, respectively.

The BJP’s position assumes significance because the NCPI’s support for the NDA at the national level has raised questions over whether the arrangement could eventually evolve into an electoral partnership in Bengal. The issue has also surfaced ahead of the state’s municipal elections, expected later this year, with sections of the NCPI indicating an interest in contesting alongside the BJP.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has, however, maintained that his party intends to contest the civic elections on its own strength. The state leadership’s position has been that cooperation at the national level does not automatically entail seat-sharing in Bengal.

The bypoll arrangement, therefore, remains limited to the NCPI campaigning for BJP candidates rather than the two parties jointly contesting the elections.

20 MPs face disqualification pleas

The development comes as the status of the 20 Lok Sabha MPs who broke away from the Trinamool Congress and moved to the NCPI remains under scrutiny.

The MPs announced their move to the little-known NCPI in June following the TMC’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections and subsequently extended support to the NDA. The move prompted the Trinamool Congress to seek their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla issued notices to the MPs on August 26. After they initially sought three weeks to respond, they were granted time until September 22. With that deadline expiring Tuesday, the MPs have sought another four weeks to submit their replies, according to party sources.

The uncertainty has also fuelled speculation over whether some of the NCPI MPs could eventually move directly to the BJP. Earlier this month, Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claimed that 17 of the 20 MPs would join the BJP around Durga Puja. Other rebel MPs disputed the assertion, while the BJP’s Bengal leadership distanced itself from the claim.

High-stakes bypolls

The Nandigram and Rejinagar contests have already developed into multi-cornered fights marked by candidate withdrawals, arrests and the continuing split within the Trinamool Congress.

Nandigram, in particular, has become a politically significant contest after Adhikari vacated the seat to retain Bhabanipur, both of which he won in the Assembly elections earlier this year. Congress has fielded Milan Pradhan, whose campaign was disrupted following his arrest in cases linked to the 2007 Nandigram land agitation.

The NCPI’s decision gives the BJP additional campaign support without requiring it to concede a seat or formally broaden its electoral arrangement in the state. For the NCPI, it provides an opportunity to demonstrate its support for the NDA while questions persist over the parliamentary status and political future of its 20 MPs.