Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has himself singled him out for his alleged role in liquidating Naxalites and political opponents during his chief ministership in 1972-77, particularly in the Cossipore-Baranagore areas. But Ray seems unruffled. ``I don't have to listen to their version of the story. And voters don't see me as a killer,'' he tells reporters before turning to a party supporter who rushes to his jeep to greet him with rose petals at China Bazaar in Burrabazar.

Ray, in fact, cites the two commissions of inquiry instituted by the Jyoti Basu government into the charges which, he claims,had ``absolved him totally''. Such a ``conspiracy'' cannot harm his prospects, he declares.

Home to the powerful trading community and middle and lower-class Bengalis, the constituency has an electorate of a little over seven lakh, including 2,60,670 women. It has been a Congress bastion which was wrested by Sudip Bandopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress on his debut last time from former Union Minister Debi Prasad Pal of the Congress. Bandopadhyay had received 2,26,832 votes and his CPI(M) rival, Sarala Maheswari, 1,53,349.

Pal, who ranked third after the CPI(M) with 75,049, has now joined the Trinamool Congress. This time it is Raj Deo Gowala, MLA from Belgachia constituency, who is in the fray for the CPI(M).

A former Indian Ambassador to the US and former Governor of Punjab, Ray knows he has a tough fight on hand and is campaigning vigorously. A dozen motorcycle-borne men lead his procession of cars, jeeps and a Maruti van with over a hundred slogan-shouting partymen following them. Ray, who travelson a jeep, occasionally steps down to talk to people and urges them to ``get rid of both the BJP and the CPI(M)''.

``We're no `B' team of the CPI(M), as the Trinamool Congress and the BJP would like the people to believe,'' says Ray, who wears a spotless dhoti and kurta, like a true bhadralok. ``In West Bengal, the CPI(M) is our main enemy and we're exposing their lies about development. Just look down at the road you are standing on; look at the potholes -- that's their story of development.''

He is conscious of what he is up against. ``It'll not be an easy task. We will have to struggle very hard, really very very hard, to defeat the CPI(M)-led Left Front which has made Bengal poor and bankrupt,'' he says.

He accuses the Trinamool Congress of bringing in ``communal politics'' in West Bengal. ``By aligning with the communal BJP, the Trinamool Congress has endangered the secular fabric of the state,'' he says. But unlike other state Congress leaders, Ray has been soft towards Mamata Banerjee and isstill hopeful of her return to the Congress. ``If Mamata deserts the BJP and rejoins the Congress, I'm ready to withdraw from the contest,'' he says.

Bandopadhyay, a confidant of Mamata, is unfazed by the presence of Ray. The Trinamool is calling for stability at the Centre and asserting that it would join the Union Cabinet if the BJP-led coalition returned to power ``which is necessary to work for the state''.

The contest is likely to be closely fought with the Trinamool leaving no stone unturned to hold on to the seat and Ray desperate to make a comeback. That may leave the CPM nowhere, not much of a change here.

(With agency reports)