From one wave of change to another,‘Chacha’ has seen it all

Sitting in the modest Congress office,“Chacha” engages in discussion with party men,his intensity no match for his age. The animated discussion is about actor Chiranjeevi,campaigning for him on Wednesday. Kharagpur Town has a sizeable South Indian population.

He is in his office from 10 am to 10 pm during elections,except when he attends or addresses rallies and meetings. “I used to campaign from door to door. That is no longer necessary,” he says.

Asked if he would like to be a minister again,the soft-spoken leader says she does not harbour too many aspirations at this age. “I have seen everything already,” smiles the state’s most senior MLA,who contested his first election half a century ago,in 1962.

He became minister in 1969 in Ajoy Mukherjee’s cabinet,taking charge of Small Industries and Jails. In Siddhartha Shankar Roy’s cabinet,he was the government’s chief whip and Minister for Transport,Jail and Parliamentary Affairs.

The 1977 election was the last he lost. Representing Kharagpur continuously since 1982,he says he has tried to better his margin each time. In 2006,he won by 9,000 votes.

The secret of his success,he says,is that he has been always represented the people rather than the party. “People from any party can come to me and get anything done. If I can do the work,I say yes; if I can’t,I say no,” he says. “I know I have not been able to satisfy everybody but they know I am sincere.”

He says he is disappointed that Manmohan Singh could not campaign for him. The Prime Minister was supposed to arrive,he says,but the plan was dropped. “I have seen rallies by Jawaharlal Nehru,Indira Gandhi,Sonia Gandhi,Rahul. Since Indira Gandhi’s time,leaders have come to campaign for me.”

About the alliance with the Trinamool Congress,he says the Congress sacrificed a lot out of respect for people’s desire for a change. He stresses he is close to Mamata Banerjee,the relation dating back to her time in the Congress. He also has high regard for Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattcharjee,who,he feels,wanted to “do some good” for the state but was foiled by his comrades.