Congress wins Siliguri mayor's post with Left support

The Congress today won the post of mayor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in north Bengal with the support of Left Front councillors, pipping ally Trinamool Congress whose party chief Mamata Banerjee alleged that “money power played a major role”.

The Congress-TC combine won 29 seats, while the Left Front bagged 17 in the 47-member board, elections to which were held on September 13. The remaining one seat went to a former TC councillor, who contested as an independent.

Of the 29 seats won by the Opposition alliance, the Congress bagged 15 and the TC 14. Immediately after the results were announced, both the Congress and TC had staked claim to the all-important post of mayor. Despite several meetings between the two sides, the deadlock continued. The Left did not file nomination for either of the post of mayor or chairman.

It is learnt that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee held informal talks with senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and K Keshava Rao in the national capital, but that, too, failed to break the impasse.

As election to the mayor’s post became evident, the Darjeeling district committee of the Congress late last night sought support from the Left parties for the election of both the posts today.

Seeing a good opportunity to cause a fissure in the Opposition camp, the CPI(M) readily agreed to lend support to the Congress. Today, in a brief ritual of voting, the Congress candidates got 32 votes for the post of mayor and chairman, while the TC candidates got 15.

Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee, the leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, told Business Standard: “People of Siliguri had given a clear verdict against the CPI(M) in the corporation election. The Congress fought the election along with us on the anti-CPI(M) plank. But now, they (Congress) have committed a political crime by taking support of the CPI(M) to come to power.”

Meanwhile, state Congress leaders were trying to underplay the development by saying that “it won’t have any bearing on the TC-Congress alliance” in the state.

But as Chatterjee pointed out, it is a win-win situation for the TC. “It is crystal clear to the people of Bengal that Mamata Banerjee is the only fighter against the left tyranny,” Chatterjee maintained.

But why did the Congress high command run the risk of rocking the boat so soon when their eyes were set on the 2011 Assembly elections? According to Congress sources, the party high command was increasingly feeling the heat generated in several state units of the party against Mamata Banerjee as they were unhappy with her handling of the railway ministry.

However, in West Bengal, this has put the Congress in an unenviable situation. The ‘overt’ cooperation with the CPI(M) in Siliguri has put the Congress in a bind. Since both the Left and the TC will now seat in the Opposition, after six months they run the risk of facing a no-trust vote. It is to be seen whether the CPIM would continue to rescue the Congress against the TMC's wrath, and also push the wedge further into the divide created between the two parties. (EOM)