Uncertainty prevails in Siliguri Municipal Corporatio

SNS, Siliguri, 26 November 2013:Uncertainty, hanging long over Siliguri Municipal Corporation, seems to have deepened further after the north Bengal development minister and the Darjeeling district Trinamul Congress president, Mr Gautam Deb hinted at defection from the Congress in the coming days.

“My party would bring no-confidence motion against the Congress-run minority board in December,” he said. When quizzed over the figure not tallying with his words, he hinted at defection from the Congress without going for elaboration. “We would manage the required number and it would be proved at the appropriate time," is what he said.

With the victory from ward no 11, TMC strength has gone up to 15, still a seat short of the figure required for bringing the no-confidence motion. The figure for the Left Front has risen to 18 with its bypoll victory at ward no 31. The strength of Congress remains at 14.

The civic body mayor, Ms Gangotri Datta, sounded apprehensive when told about the minister’s no-confidence warning. “It is clear they are hell-bent on engineering defection to reach the figure. However, I am not going to step down. I am at the helm here with the people's mandate,” she added.

The former state urban development minister and senior CPI-M leader, Mr Asok Bhattacharya, said the Left Front would maintain equi-distance from both Congress and Trinamul Congress vis-à-vis the imponderables involved in SMC. "The people mandated us to sit in the Opposition and we would abide by it," he said.