Gen Roychowdhury, who finally `emerged as a consensus candidate of the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Opposition Congress,' of late became a focus of controversy with dissidence within the Congress Legislature Party. Incidentally, the CLP dissidence pushed the leadership to such an embarrassment that the leadership had to get a special clearance for its decision to support Gen Roychowdhury's candidature.

Not only the CLP, the dissidents had also succeeded in embarrassing the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to a great extent. Particularly by raising Gen Roychowdhury's reported statements, giving both Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Union Home Minister and former BJP president L K Advani clean chit saying that ``they are not communal leaders,'' the CLP dissidentshad equally embarrassed the CPI(M).

Understandably, the CLP dissidence, threatening to put up a second candidate, was steamrolled by the Pradesh Congress leaders with AICC blessings.

But despite steamrolling of the dissidence, the air of unhappiness among the CLP members `has not faded' to put it in the words of Subrata Mukherjee, an influential CLP and Pradesh Congress leader and who also expressed his dissidence on the Pradesh Congress decision to support General Roychowdhury.

Speaking to ENS today Mukherjee said: ``We cannot help if the AICC thrusts its decision on us, but that doesn't mean we are in agreement with the decision.''

Later, speaking to media persons, the former Army chief, while coming out of the office of the returning officer after filing his nomination, said: ``It feels good to get support of two major parties, the CPI(M) and the Congress, in the state.''

He said once he was elected to RS, ``My job will be the development of the state.'' To another question on Kargil, hesaid: ``Like most of the parties are saying, I think the issue should not be politicised.''

While Pranab Mukherjee was the lone Congress candidate who filed his nomination today, the CPI(M) and RSP candidates were: Chandrakala Pandey, Sarala Maheswari and Jiban Roy, all CPI(M) and Abani Roy (RSP).