Left holds rally without nod

TT, Siliguri, Dec. 16: Leaders and workers of Darjeeling district Left Front today took out a rally on Hill Cart Road here although the Siliguri metropolitan police had denied permission to hold the procession.

The rally was held with a demand to hold elections to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad immediately.

It ended peacefully on the SMP premises where Left supporters shouted slogans and accused the state government of delaying the polls.

Led by leaders, including former minister Asok Bhattacharya, the rally comprising around 700 supporters started from Air View More and made its way through Hill Cart Road to the SMC office.

Sources said the Siliguri metropolitan police had denied permission for the rally in view of the Siliguri Carnival that started yesterday. However, as the rally started today, policemen were seen walking with the Left supporters to prevent any untoward incident.

Asked why they had taken out the rally without permission, Bhattacharya said: “The chief minister is flouting rules, Trinamul ministers are in jail and police are functioning on a whim. We had announced that we would take out the rally with or without permission. It is the people who have raised these issues. We are voicing their demands.”

The former minister said elections to the the SMC and the SMP should be declared immediately.

“We also want the chief minister to be interrogated by CBI in the Saradha scam,” added Bhattacharya.