Asok blasts TMC moves - Bloc protests SMC councillor's defection

Bloc members burn the effigy of Singh in Siliguri on Friday. (Kundan Yolmo)

TT, Siliguri, Aug. 26: Mayor Asok Bhattacharya today said all 22 Left Front councillors at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation would meet the governor to apprise him of Trinamul's "unethical moves" to capture civic and rural bodies.

Yesterday, the lone Forward Bloc member at the SMC, Durga Singh, had joined Trinamul, reducing the Left-Front board to a minority.

The mayor told journalists today after his return from Calcutta: "Soon, all 22 Left councillors will meet the governor to apprise him of Trinamul's unethical moves to gain control of civic and rural bodies. We will also send an open letter to the chief minister in this regard. I will try to raise the issue in the ensuing Assembly session."

Told that after Singh's departure, the Left no longer enjoyed majority at the SMC, he said: "We spoke to PCC president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who assured me that the Congress councillors would support us. There is no reason to believe that we have become minority just because one councillor has defected."

The Congress has four councillors who haven't extended support to the Left officially.

Bhattacharya said an order had been issued to remove Singh from the post of member, mayor-in-council (health and parking). "We also want to disqualify her as the councillor. We will appeal before the authority concerned. She can no longer be a councillor as per the clauses of the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006."

Legal experts said since Singh was the lone Bloc member, her defection wouldn't come under the ambit of the rules. Under the WBMC Act, if one-third or more elected members of any political party join another party, they will not be disqualified.

Trinamul councillors, including Durga Singh, today met in the SMC office.

"Trinamul has 18 councillors at the SMC now and our tally will go up in the coming days. People are fed up with the board's miserable performance and want a change. Even the Left councillors have to face complaints from common people everyday and many of them want a change. The process has started and soon, there will be a major change," Nantu Paul, the leader of opposition at the SMC, said.

Bloc leaders and workers today demonstrated and burnt an effigy of Singh in her ward V to protest her "betrayal".

"Residents of the ward are disappointed with her decision. She has failed to articulate a proper reason for quitting the Bloc," Mahananda Mondal, a local Bloc leader, said.

Singh, however, said: "I have joined Trinamul for the sake of development. The present civic board has failed to provide even basic amenities to residents."

Expulsion

The Jalpaiguri district secretary of the CPM, Salil Acharya, said on Friday that 10 elected representatives of the party at the zilla parishad, including the sabhadhipati, had been expelled for joining Trinamul or planning to do so.

This week, Trinamul had grabbed the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad after six CPM members had joined the ruling party.

Acharya said apart from those six, "we have specific information that four other members, including sabhadhipati Nurjahan Begum, will also join Trinamul".

"That is why we have sacked them," said Acharya.