Kolkata, May 20:
In a dramatic twist, Falta’s Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan on Tuesday withdrew from the May 21 repoll, a move that could virtually hand the BJP a walkover in the constituency.
While the TMC quickly distanced itself from Khan’s decision, calling it his “personal choice” and alleging a post-poll atmosphere of intimidation in Falta, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari mocked the candidate for “running away”, claiming he quit after realising he would not even find polling agents on the ground.
Khan, who had become one of the most talked-about faces of the Falta campaign and cultivated a larger-than-life image around his self-styled ‘Pushpa’ persona of defiance, had repeatedly projected himself as someone who would not bend under pressure.His sudden withdrawal, barely two days before polling, added another dramatic turn to a constituency already mired in allegations of electoral malpractice and political acrimony.
Khan said he made the decision keeping Falta’s interests in mind and claimed that the CM’s promise of a special development package for the constituency influenced his thinking.