Run-up to elections 2 : A strange game

The state Housing Minister Goutam Deb seems to be into a strange game. He is repeatedly opening his mouth in support of Majid Master, who has a number of police cases against him (that includes murder and rioting), had been officially 'absconding' till a few days back, yet had accompanied CPI(M) MP Amitava Nandi to the Left Front headquarters for a meeting with none other than the CM, and subsequently arrested following TMC's complaint to the state election office highlighting this incident.

First Goutam said in an election rally this month in south 24 Parganas (where Majid is reportedly a terror and manipulates the elections in CPI(M)'s favour) that Majid had been framed in 'ridiculous' cases. He announced that his party (CPI(M)) was consulting lawyers to get Majid released on bail at the earliest and assured that he was going to get bail and come back to take charge of elections in Deganga and Haroa, his home territory.

The day after the Special Secretary (Home) clarified that the Left Front government would oppose the bail plea for Majid, clearly indicating state government's intentions and embarrassing the party.

However there hasn't been a reprimand to Goutam from his party not to repeat the incident. And he did just what was not called for. He mentioned yet again in an election rally at Duttapukur yesterday that the effort to get Majid released was still on.

There is no reason to believe that Goutam is another rebel like the late Subhas Chakraborty in his party. In fact he is one major face of his party in the ongoing election campaign. The mechanics behind this strange game he is playing is not clear but his statements seem to be intentional and serving the interest of the party in terms of votebank and election machinery (especially Majid's follower base) and maybe have other deeper reasons.