Kolkata: Pratik Ur Rahaman, CPM state committee member who recently quit his party membership, on Thursday lauded the state govt’s “Lakshmir Bhandar” scheme, fuelling speculation about his political future. Rahaman also raised questions about the functioning of CPM state general secretary Md Salim.“State govt rolled out projects for poor people. Once, the Left Front used to call it alms. Later, they realised that these projects empowered women. Left parties realised that women considered it their right. A mother in a village felt that her dignity was restored through Lakshmir Bhandar. Left parties changed their political line later and stopped calling it alms,” Rahaman said. On Wednesday, Rahaman said he was standing at a crossroads and claimed he felt stifled within the party. “I asked why Srijan (Bhattacharya) was not included in the Bangla Banchao Jatra. I asked why Md Salim met Humayun Kabir. For the past two years, I was made to sit on the sidelines. I saw dual preference in the party,” he said.Alleging that Md Salim remains enclosed within a “coterie”, Rahaman said workers “parroting” a section of seniors are preferred in the party. “I raised a number of questions when Surjya Kanta Mishra was the state secretary. But that changed. Now, netas are more like Gabbar Singh in the film Sholay, who do not believe in free speech,” he said.Claiming that there are thousands of party workers whose voices need to be heard, he said allegations had been levelled against him for getting into a “setting” with Trinamool, adding that “those who met Humayun Kabir are free to do that.”Salim shows ‘banana skin’ to reportersKolkata: CPM state general secretary Md Salim was present at a session at Aliah University on Thursday where Samirul Islam and Humayun Kabir were also among the invitees. When Salim started to deliver his speech, a section of the audience walked out. Later, when reporters asked Salim for his reaction on Pratik Ur Rahaman, he refused to answer and showed banana skin to them. Salim however defended his action claiming he had skipped lunch and had a banana instead. “I am looking for a space to dump this,” he said.
