Rahul's tainted 'sipahi'

Kolkata: Over the next three days, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will tour the entire state in a bid to strengthen the party in West Bengal. Among other things, he may have to tackle the issue of including a tainted leader in the party fold.



Even as Rahul announced during his recent Kolkata rally that the Congress in the state will have a "clean image", there's resentment brewing in the party regarding the inclusion of Mohammad Rafiq, once TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's pointsman in Keshpur, who has several criminal cases registered against him. In fact, a section of Congress leaders have already staged a dharna in protest outside West Bengal PCC headquarters, Bidhan Bhavan.

Rafiq was inducted into the party when Rahul visited the WBPCC headquarters after having addressed the rally. Top leaders had announced that his joining the party was "like the return of a wayward son to his mother's lap". Rafiq had reciprocated: "Mamata treated me like a brother as I was spearheading a movement against the CPM. But after her purpose was served, she disowned me."



Keshpur was rocked by violence in the early 1990s with several "political killings" reported from both the Trinamool and CPM camps. Rafiq was a TMC leader at that time, with 15 criminal cases against him registered at the Keshpur police station. These included rioting, arson, murder and extortion. A senior police official said, "The cases included four-five murder cases. Warrants are pending in three cases of arson and rioting."

According to police sources, Rafiq owns property in Midnapore town and also runs a transport syndicate.



Manoj Verma, SP, West Midnapore, said, "No new cases have been registered against Rafiq. But he has several old cases lodged against him. In some he has been acquitted."

Pradip Bhattacharya, a former state president of the Congress, said, "We all know Rafiq's criminal background. It is undesirable for the party to accept him. We were not consulted before he joined the party. We will take up the issue with senior leadership in Delhi and produce evidence against him." Kanak Debnath, another senior leader, said, "It's a shame that such a person has joined the party."

Partho Chatterjee of the TMC, when contacted about Rafiq being inducted into the Congress, said, "We expelled him during our last core committee meeting as he appeared to be a disloyal. He had committed several crimes too."



Rafiq is nonchalant about the criminal charges slapped against him. "The TMC used me and then branded me a CPM agent to expel me from the party. Didi will realise her fault. The criminal cases lodged against me are framed charges. After the Lok Sabha polls, the CPM lodged four cases against me. I will speak to Rahul Gandhi about these false charges."



Meanwhile, Congress insiders say Tapan Ghosh, a tainted CPM leader from Garbeta, has expressed willingness to join the party. Ghosh was the prime accused in Choto Angaria case in which he, along with Sukur Ali, allegedly burnt villagers to death in the house of one Bakhtar Mondal in West Midnapore district. The CBI in its chargesheet had included the names of 12 accused including Ghosh and Ali. However, in January, 2009, both were acquitted from the case as the CBI could not produce "sufficient" evidence against them.

Source: The Indian Expresss