For the sake of Ramola Chakraborty, CPM candidate for the Belgachia East Assembly seat, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today shrugged off all hesitations and issued an earnest appeal to the voters.

Ramola, former transport minister Subhas Chakraborty’s wife, is now busy distributing hundreds of leaflets with ‘Somnathda’s appeal’ to the voters. The Belgachia East is expected to face one of the toughest contests of the 10 assembly bypolls slated for November 7 in the state.

Cornered by the Opposition Trinamool Congress’s campaign and apprehending a further debacle in the bypoll, Chattrejee’s appeal to the people will help her, admitted Ramola.

The leaflet seeking votes for Ramola had reached her Salt Lake residence on. Ramola immediately asked her party cadres to distribute copies of the appeal among the voters, especially the Left voters who were shocked with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s decision on Chatterjee’s expulsion.

“We cannot keep any relation with any of our expelled party card holders. Ramola would have faced trouble once Somnathda was allowed to campaign for her,” said a senior leader of the party. “But anyone can make an appeal to the voters for us,” he added.

Considering this, Ramola had requested Chatterjee to address public meetings in Belgachia from a non-political platform. The former Speaker, however, refused this.

“Ramola is like my sister. No one from the party has approached me to make this appeal. They have asked me to address meetings to be organised by non-political organisations, but I did not. It is not a political appeal, but I want her victory, so I have appealed to the voters,” said Chatterjee.

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