‘Left Front in better position in Jalpaiguri’

SNS,  Siliguri, 26 July 2013: After reviewing the trend of rural polls in north Bengal, senior Congress leaders are apprehending that the Left Front is in a better position in Jalpaiguri due to splitting up of vote banks in the Dooars and other regions of this district. 

Though the trend in Cooch Behar district is apparently in favour of the Trinamul Congress, Congress leaders have doubt about two zilla parishads ~ Malda and North Dinajpur ~ the Congress-dominated belt. 

According to them, the fate of the two zilla parishads may hang in the balance if the ruling party fails to bag majority seats. A veteran Congress leader and MLA from Alipurduar, Mr Debaprasad Roy, said: “The Left Front has the advantage of forming Jalpaiguri zilla parishad due to division of vote banks in a triangular fight in this district.” 

“Though people say Trinamul has the advantage in Cooch Behar, we suspect the rural poll results may show the way to hung boards in other districts owing to the triangular fight,” he said. “The Trinamul Congress will perform better in Dabgram-Fulbari, Rajganj, Dhupguri, Falakata Assembly segments,” Mr Roy said. He said: “The Left Front will dominate in Kumargram, Madarihat, Maynaguri and Meteli areas for zilla parishad seats.” 

“The Congress candidates for ZP will perform better in Kalchini, Alipurduar-II, Malbazar, Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri (Sadar) and partly in Alipurduar-I,” he added. 

“The LF candidates will take advantage of the situation due to division of vote banks because of the triangular fight. The results of which may be a hung board,” said Mr Roy. Mr Roy also claimed that the Trinamul Congress would not be able to bag at least 10 seats out of 18 ones, which are under the Alipuduar sub-division, to form a separate zilla parishad in the proposed Alipurduar district. 

Another senior Congress leader, Mr Biswaranjan Sarkar, said: “No political party will be able to manage absolute majority to form the proposed Alipurduar zilla parishad without the help of the Congress.” The Jalpaiguri district Trinamul Congress president, Mr Chandan Bhowmik, said: “People have responded to our expectations and we are hopeful of achieving positive results.” 

Notably, the Trinamul Congress chief and state chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, had reportedly asked her party cadres to bag an absolute majority in the Alipurduar sub-division so that the state can declare a separate Alipurduar district with the formation of the Alipurduar zilla parishad, bifurcating the Jalpaiguri district and zilla parishad, which has 37 seats. Political observers have already started discussing whether the Left Front and the Congress would jointly form the boards, where the results would be hung in case of the formation of zilla parishad or panchayat samiti, to keep a safe distance from the Trinamul ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha vote in 2014. 

On the other hand, senior Left leaders in Jalpaiguri are not confident that the party would be able to retain 12 panchayat samitis out of 13, which were under the control of the LF, in Jalpaiguri. 

Political observers are suspecting that a similar crisis of absolute majority may appear in the Congress dominated Malda and north Dinajpur.