Kolkata:
The Left, the Trinamool and the Congress have shared the honours in the bypolls held in three assembly seats in West Bengal. The Left has won at Nalhati in Birbhum district, the Trinamool at Englishbazar in Malda and the Congress at Rejinagar in Murshidabad.
The fight for Rejinagar was seen by many as a battle between Murshidabad strongman and Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Though Trinamool denies it, Adhir Chowdhury has won his battle. The fact that the Trinamool is in third position in two seats is also being seen as a dip in the wave that swept West Bengal two years ago.
The most closely-watched fight was at Rejinagar, a seat that became a prestige fight between Adhir Chowdhury and Mamata Banerjee. Congress's Humayun Kabir, a protege of Mr Chowdhury, had switched loyalty to Ms Banerjee and become a minister. He was Trinamool's candidate at Rejinagar. Not only did he lose, Trinamool came third.
"For the first time, everyone fought independently and results prove that Mamata Banerjee alone can't do wonders," said Adhir Chowdhury.
But Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy disagreed. "Mamata Banerjee is a national leader. So Rejinagar was not a fight between Mamata Banerjee and Adhir Chowdhury. It was a fight between Congress, Trinamool and RSP. And you should appreciate that since the formation of the Trinamool, there was no presence of the party there in Murshidabad district. This is the first time that Trinamool fielded a candidate and we gave a good fight."
Trinamool's Humayun Kabir got 40,912 votes against Congress candidate Robiul Alam Chowdhury's 68,876.
Contrary to the outcome, Trinamool Congress sees the bypoll results as a resounding victory. All three seats that went to the polls were previously held by Congress. Trinamool claims it has made a serious gain at Englishbazar where its candidate Krishnendu Chowdhury won by a margin of more than 20,000 votes. He was the sitting Congress legislator at Englishbazar. But he too had switched loyalty to Mamata Banerjee and become a minister.
"The fight was between development and the lack of it. People have rejected non-development and chosen development," said Krishnendu Chowdhury.
The Left feels the result exposes Trinamool Congress' dipping popularity. Left Front Chairman Biman Bose said, "There were questions in people's mind (about the party in power) and that has reflected in these results."
Sole consolation for the Left was its win at Nalhati, a seat it held for 42 years till Congress snatched it in 2011. However, its vote share in all three seats has fallen. But that's a small sweat given that in Nalhati, as well as Rejinagar, Trinamool came third - a result that could be seen as a dip in the wave in favour of Mamata Banerjee's party two years ago.