Prize post for Rabi, tourism for Deb - North Bengal development dept goes to Cooch Behar Trinamul chief

(From left) Rabindranath Ghosh, Gautam Deb. (Kundan Yolmo)

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, May 27: Rabindranath Ghosh, the Trinamul district president of Cooch Behar, has been made the north Bengal development minister after delivering wins in eight of the nine Assembly seats in that district.

The portfolio, the most high-profile in north Bengal, was held by Gautam Deb, who has been made the tourism minister. In Darjeeling district, where Deb is a senior Trinamul leader, the ruling party did not win a single seat.

Tourism is a high-profile portfolio in north Bengal because of Darjeeling and the Dooars, and there was a longstanding demand for the portfolio to go to a north Bengal minister. While Mamata Banerjee kept that in mind, sources said she also rewarded Ghosh for delivering victories in the eight seats despite faction fights within the district party unit.

Trinamul sources had earlier said that Mamata was unhappy that the party had failed to secure a single seat in Malda and Darjeeling districts.

"The north Bengal development department played an important role for Trinamul in the region. It is the additional impetus put by this department, which had Gautam Deb as the minister, along with funds to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore for infrastructural development, that earned Trinamul 24 seats in the region," a Trinamul insider said. "However, the performance of Deb as a party leader in Darjeeling district has been dismal, particularly in past one year," the party source said.

"Trinamul faced back-to-back defeats in three consecutive polls, the last being the Assembly polls this year in Siliguri and in the district. This seems to be the primary reason why Mamata thought of changing his portfolio," the source said.

The other two polls where Trinamul lost to the Left are the Siliguri civic polls and the three-tier Mahakuma rural elections in the Siliguri sub-division, both held last year.

After the dual debacle, Deb was removed from the post of Darjeeling district president and Ranjan Sarkar was given the responsibility. But that did not put any seats in Trinamul's kitty.

"In both these polls and even in the Assembly polls, rivalries within Trinamul have surfaced time and again. It is the differences among district leaders which are considered to be the most important reason behind the defeat of Bhaichung Bhutia in Siliguri," a political observer said.

Bhutia had recently said that Trinamul needed to examine why the Left-Congress alliance had worked in Siliguri when it had not worked elsewhere in the state. Could there be other factors to blame behind his defeat, he asked.

Cooch Behar also got another minister today. Binoy Krishna Burman, who had won from Mathabhanga, was made the state forest minister for the second time.

Like the previous government, six ministers are from north Bengal this time. The other three ministers are James Kujur, made the minister of state for tribal affairs, Bachchu Hansda, the minister of state in the north Bengal development department, and Golam Rabbani, the minister of state for tourism.

With Kujur's selection, the new district of Alipurduar got its first minister.

Hansda is the MLA from Tapan in South Dinajpur and Rabbani the MLA from Goalpokhor in North Dinajpur.

"Mamata has made a clear assessment. She is aware that in the South Dinajpur district, the party has performed miserably because of the in-party rivalry and did not want to deprive the district from having at least one minister of state," a party source said. "On the other hand, the party has performed well in North Dinajpur, once considered to be the second important bastion of the Congress in north Bengal after Malda. This is why Rabbani was picked."

In South Dinajpur, Trinamul had bagged five of six seats in 2011 but could win only of the two seats this time. In North Dinajpur, Trinamul had won two seats at 2011 and doubled its tally this year.

Mamata also made an announcement for a tea directorate.

"We do not have a separate department for tea and at times, there are communication gaps and problems. We have decided to create a full-fledged tea directorate which will function along with the north Bengal development department," the chief minister said. "Issues pertaining to tea industry can be taken care of then."