Left chooses SMP Sabhadhipati, Sahakari Sabhadhipati

SNS Siliguri, | 13 November, 2015: The Darjeeling district Left Front has announced that Tapas Sarkar would be made the Sabhadhipati, and Tapasi Roy Mondal would be made the Sahakari Sabhadhipati at the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP), the board for which will be formed on 16 November.

"Tapas Sarkar, who won the elections from Matigara-I, Matigara-II and the Atharokhai area, has been selected as the Sabhadhipati (reserved for Scheduled Caste candidate) and Tapasi Roy Mondal, who won from Binnabari, Raniganj Panisali would made the Sahakari Sabhadhipati," the district Left Front convener and district CPI-M secretary, Jibesh Sarkar, said here on Thursday.

Tapas Sarkar, who teaches History at the Bagdogra College, is from the CPI-M, and Roy Mondal is from the All India Forward Bloc.

The Left, which defeated the Trinamul 6-3 in the nine seat SMP, has formed the boards in all the four Panchayat Samities (PS) and also formed boards in nine of the 22 gram panchayats (GP)

Four elected Left Front members will take charges as Karmadhakshyas at the SMP. Left Front leaders have said that they would go for a bigger movement if the state government did not cooperate with the new board at the SMP.

"People supported the Left Front in the civic body elections, and the three-tier rural polls of the SMP. We have formed the boards in all the four PS and also formed boards at nine GPs. But ever since the formation of the board at the civic body (Siliguri Municipal Corporation), the state government has employed a noncooperation policy. It seems that the ruling party failed to learn a lesson from the two consecutive defeats in the local polls," Jibesh Sarkar said. "However, the new elected board will give full respect to the opposition parties. But if the state government continues its noncooperation policy and hatches conspiracy, people will not accept this, and we will launch a bigger movement against them," he added. He alleged that the administration had so far not taken any initiative for the formation of the SMP board on 16 November.

"The administration is yet to send out invitation cards for the programme. It is yet to start any preparations. We have printed the invitation cards and we feel that people from a cross section of society, and leaders of opposition parties should attend the board formation event," he said. Darjeeling district magistrate Anurag Srivastava, however, said the district administration has taken steps as per the rules.

"We are following the rules. Elected members have already been invited, and officially, printing of invitation cards is not necessary on part of the administration, according to the rules," he said. Meanwhile, state CPI-M secretary and leader of the opposition in the Assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, is scheduled to attend a party workshop in Bagdogra here on 29 November. He is also scheduled to address a public meeting in Siliguri that day.

The Trinamul Congress, meanwhile, said it has left to the three elected members in the SMP to do the need flu. "We have left it to the members to decide on the stand they will take during the formation of the board," said the party's district president Ranjan Sarkar, who on Thursday held a first meeting with party workers as their district president. North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb and the immediate past president of the party's district committee here, also attended the meeting.