est Bengal's BJP leadership had to call a press conference on Friday to showcase to the media that their candidate from Dum Dum constituency, Tapan Sikdar was very much alive. Some Trinamool Congress leaders had spread the news on Friday that Sikdar had died after being admitted to hospital. Sikdar, who has been ailing for a while, said, "Canards were being spread that I had died after being put on ventilator. Today, they (the TMC) circulated the news that I had died."

"I usually campaign for two hours every morning, take rest and then hit the road again in the evening," he added.

Dum Dum, adjacent to Kolkata, votes on 12 May.

Sikdar, a bachelor, won from Dum Dum in 1998 by beating his CPM rival to serve as Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and later, Chemicals and Fertilizers, in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government.

"The news of my death was announced even in front of the TMC candidate, Saugata Roy," alleged Sikdar.

A bewildered Sikdar wondered whether this was how the TMC was hoping to shave off some of his votes. Speaking to this newspaper, Sikdar said, "I cannot stoop to such a level, but all I can say is that there is a saying in Bengali that if the news of someone's death turns out to be false, a few years are added to one's life."

Saugata Roy is the TMC's sitting MP from Dum Dum and served as the Minister of State for Urban Development in the Manmohan Singh government. Dum Dum was a Left stronghold earlier. However, this time, a faction-ridden TMC is facing stiff competition from the BJP in Dum Dum primarily because of Narendra Modi.

Before it dawned on the TMC that Modi has had a major impact on voters in the state, Saugata Roy, a former professor of physics, was going around urging supporters to defeat the CPM.