By IANS,
Kolkata: A former bureaucrat, who served as chief secretary under West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is likely to be pitted against him by the Trinamool Congress in the April-May state assembly poll.
Manish Gupta, who had a one-year stint as chief secretary in 2000-2001, met Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee both Friday and Saturday.
“I have given an application for a Trinamool Congress ticket… I will be in the fray. I don’t know (the constituency) but I think I will contest from Jadavpore,” Gupta told media persons after coming out of Banerjee’s residence in South Kolkata’s Kalighat Saturday.
A former military man, Gupta joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1967, and occupied key posts during his over three decade career as bureaucrat.
Known for his curt behaviour, Gupta refused to disclose his strategy against his former chief minister. “Why should I disclose my strategy before the war,” he countered.
Asked whether he would raise the corruption issue during the campaign as he has been part of the administration for long, Gupta said: “I don’t want to talk about it now. All my life I have worked for the people. Now also I want to work for the people. That’s why I want to contest the election. That’s why I am here”.
Bhattacharjee has won five times consecutively since 1987 from Jadavpore in South 24 Parganas district.