Asok campaign challenge to Mamata

TT, Siliguri, Sept. 30: Siliguri mayor Asok Bhattacharya today challenged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to campaign in the Siliguri rural elections and said Trinamul would lose the October 3 elections even then.

Bhattacharya today said that the CPM was confident of getting all nine seats in Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, the top tier of the three-level rural body, and would also win most of the four panchayat samitis and 22 panchayats.

"There is one more day left for the campaign. I invite the chief minister to visit the sub-division and campaign for her party candidates. I would like to say that even her visit and campaign will not make any impact on the voters across the sub-division and she cannot save her party from facing defeat in the rural polls, much like the civic polls held here in April this year," the senior CPM leader said.

"We are confident of forming the board at SMP. After winning the SMP elections, we will send a clear message to the people of Bengal that they (Trinamul) are no longer enjoying indomitable status in the state," he said.

According to Bhattacharya, the SMP poll is not a contest between him and north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb. "It would be wrong to interpret the elections in such a manner. We are not contesting against any minister of the state. Out main contest is against the Trinamul supremo and her principles. Our leaders and workers are contesting for restoration of democracy and local self-governance. The minister (Deb), on the other hand, is contesting for his political existence," the mayor said.

The Left, he said, was getting an overwhelming response from voters.

"There are clear indications that Trinamul has lost its support base in rural areas. The principal reason for erosion of support is that Trinamul leaders and ministers did not execute any development work across the SMP area and on tea estates in the past four years. None of the state ministers cared to visit the villages," he said. "Trinamul leaders and ministers have realised it and are now trying to lure voters with money," the mayor said.

"We don't want to comment on such baseless remarks. It seems that the Left leaders are daydreaming," Nantu Paul, the working president of Darjeeling district Trinamul, said.