Mamata cancels campaigning trip to north Bengal

SNS, SILIGURI, 30 JUNE: Chief Minister Mamata Benerjee cancelled her trip to north Bengal for election campaigning after the Supreme Court gave its verdict re-scheduling the panchayat elections.

Miss Banerjee was scheduled to campaign for the rural polls in Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri on 5 and 6 July respectively when the three-tier panchayat polls were scheduled to be held on 9 July in north Bengal’s four districts.

“But after the Supreme Court’s verdict on the panchayat election schedule, party chief Mamata-di has changed her mind”, party sources said today.

The Jalpaiguri district Trinamul Congress president, Mr Chandan Bhowmik, said: “Chief minister would not campaign for Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri on 5 and 6 July. Her programme has been cancelled. The date of her visit to two districts has not yet been finalised.”

On the other hand, the Left Front has completed its first round of rural poll campaigning in Jalpaiguri and adjoining areas with heavyweight CPI-M  leaders like Ms Brinda Karat, Mr Nirupam Sen, Mr Biman Bose and Mr Muhammad Salim and others taking part. The leader of the Opposition, Mr Surya Kanta Mishra, is scheduled to address at least 12 public meetings in Jalpaiguri and adjoining areas from 5 July.

The Forward Bloc, the key ally of the Left Front in Cooch Behar, has meanwhile asked its senior leader Mr Akshay Thakur to lead the party activists for rural polls in the absence of the district party secretary Mr Udayan Guho, who is virtually absconding after police registered a murder case against him following a complaint from the Trinamul Congress after Ratan Barman, a Trinamul supporter died after a clash at Khuttimari under Dinhata sub-division a few days ago. Though the Left Front leaders in Jalpaiguri alleged that the Trinamul Congress was in league with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to garner voters to capture the three-tier local bodies mainly in the Dooars, the Trinamul Congress leadership brushed aside the allegations. The TMC did not hesitate to criticise the GJMM president’s recent statements during his rural poll campaigning in the Dooars.