TMC may form Alipurduar ZP

SNS, Siliguri, 6 October 2014: The Trinamul Congress is likely to form the Alipurduar Zilla Parishad in the new district that was created by bifurcating Jalpaiguri, though the ruling party had won only one of the 18 seats in the now divided Alipurduar.

Notably, the Left Front had secured absolute majority in the last rural polls and retained the 37-member Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad.

After the formation of Alipurduar district, the administration took initiatives to form two separate Zilla Parishads and it has issued a notice to form the Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad afresh on 15 October and the Alipurdur ZP on 16 October.

Though the Left Front is still confident that it will retain the JZP, the Trinamul Congress too is confident of forming the Alipurduar ZP after nine elected members (of the 18 members) from the Congress and the Left Front joined the ruling party.

Of the 37 elected members, 18 were under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Alipurduar district.

Trinamul Congress leader Sourav Chakraborty claimed that two more elected members from the LF may join his party soon to run the Alipurduar ZP. Both the Left Front and the Congress have accused the ruling party of roping in elected members ‘undemocratically.’

While the Opposition paties alleged horse trading, Trinamul Congress leaders claimed that the elected members were joining them willingly to bring in development for the new district.

Recently, another elected member from Kumargram, Samarendra Tirkey, belonging to the RSP, joined the Trinamul Congress. After his joining, the Trinamul has managed to take in nine of the 18 members.

Political observers say that the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha-backed elected member will also support the Trinamul in forming the new board.

Senior RSP leader Prakash Roy claimed that Mr Tirkey joined the Trinamul under duress at gunpoint. A senior police officer allegedly threatened him and made him join the ruling party, he claimed.

“We staged an agitation when the ruling party attacked Samarendra Tirkey and served a memorandum to the higher authorities in protest. But Mr Tirkey succumbed to the police pressure and joined the TMC a few days ago,” senior CPI-M leader Krishna Banerjee said.

“Despite this fact, we will contest the election for the Sabhadhipati of the Alipurduar ZP on 16 October. We don’t know what will be results, but we will be able to retain the Jalpaiguri ZP,” Mr Banerjee said.

Sources said the state government was not confident enough to manage things for the Adivasi dominated Alipurduar ZP area and strategically, the state has declared the post for the Sabhadhipati as unreserved.

Reacting to the “Trinamul political ploy to capture” the Alipurduar Zilla Parishad, senior Congress leader Biswaranjan Sarkar said: “No one can beat the Trinamul when it comes to capturing local body boards by using power and money. The ruling party is still buying elected members with the help of huge funds it managed to get from Saradha.”