Kolkata: Amid rumours that Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi, wife of late former Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, is planning to join BJP, Bengal Congress president Somendra Nath Mitra on Sunday said she was not leaving the party and had expressed her desire to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Raiganj constituency.
In 2009, Deepa Dasmunsi had won the Raiganj parliamentary seat in North Dinajpur, but had lost to CPI(M) leader Mohammed Salim in 2014.
“On Saturday, we had a party meeting where Deepa was also present. She is not going anywhere. She has expressed her desire to contest from Raiganj seat,” Mitra said, adding, “Our party president Rahul Gandhi knows about it and now, everything will depend on his decision.”
However, Raiganj Congress MLA Mohit Sengupta told News18 that party workers had already started campaigning for Dasmunsi, who had lost to Salim in 2014 by only a few votes.
“This time, the public mood is in favour of Congress. We want her to contest and people will ensure her victory this time,” the MLA said.
“The Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi factor is still here in Raiganj and this time people are strongly favouring his wife Deepa. If we don’t contest from this seat, the BJP will manage to secure it as the CPI(M)'s winning chances are very poor this time,” he added.
On Tuesday, Dasmunsi had rubbished news of her joining the BJP after the grand old party decided to leave the Raiganj seat for the Left party.
Not only Raiganj, there were some issues with the Murshidabad seat too, but the matter was resolved after Congress president Rahul Gandhi had a word with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
The leaders agreed that both the Raiganj and Murshidabad seats would be contested by CPI(M) candidates Mohammad Salim and Badaruddoza Khan, respectively.
Presently, the two parties are struggling over seat-sharing arrangements.
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