By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal’s ruling Left Front said Sunday expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee was welcome to campaign for the party if he so wished.
“If anybody suo moto takes a decision to campaign for the Left Front, we are not going to create any barrier,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose told mediapersons here.
When a scribe pointed out that senior CPI-M minister Gautam Deb invited Chatterjee to campaign in his constituency, Bose said: “I don’t know. I was out of Kolkata.”
“But I can tell you that if he campaigns I am not to oppose that,” he said.
Bose also pleaded ignorance to Chatterjee’s reported claim that only Gautam Deb should be on the dais if he addresses the public meeting at Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas district.
Asked about Deb’s comment that he discussed the matter with him and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the front chairman said: “You ask Deb about this.”
The first phase of the six-phase election in West Bengal will be held Monday. The elections in 294 constituencies will conclude May 10 and the votes will be counted May 13.