Cong sups with Left to teach Mamata a lesson | ||||||||||
| BARUN GHOSH AND OUR BUREAU | ||||||||||
TT, Oct. 1: The Congress today stunned the Trinamul Congress by snatching the reins of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation with the help of the Left, finally sending a stern message to Mamata Banerjee that the party would no longer blindly accept terms set by her. Both the posts of mayor and chairperson in the civic body were bagged today by the Congress which had fought the popular election in alliance with Trinamul and ended the 28-year reign of the Left in its north Bengal redoubt. Gangotri Dutta and Sabita Devi Agarwal of the Congress were elected mayor and chairperson, respectively, after the party’s district president wrote a letter to local Left boss and minister Asok Bhattacharya. In the 47-councillor corporation, the Congress and Trinamul were tied with 15 each. However, once the Left tilted the balance, the Congress’s mayor candidate got 32 votes against Trinamul’s 15 and the chairperson nominee bagged 32 against none for the rival as the rest had walked out. The Congress’s assertive streak represented a turnaround from the way it had been meekly surrendering to Trinamul since the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. It was left to the Congress MP from Raiganj, Deepa Das Munshi, to call Mamata’s bluff. That there is no love lost between the two women is no secret. For Deepa, the battle for Siliguri had both a local and a larger dimension. North Bengal is the Congress’s last fort in Bengal; Mamata has already taken over the Opposition space in the rest of the state. Conceding Siliguri to Trinamul would have meant allowing Mamata to threaten Deepa’s and the Congress’s own backyard. Unlike in the general election and in the bypolls to Sealdah and Bowbazar Assembly seats, Deepa could persuade the party high command that she be allowed to enforce her writ against Mamata. Since the municipal poll results were announced on September 15, Deepa has been in constant touch with senior party leaders. “I have been regularly giving an update to both Pranabda (Mukherjee, Bengal Congress president) and Raoji (K. Keshava Rao, AICC general secretary in charge of Bengal) for over a fortnight. Even this morning, I informed them… about the Left backing. They okayed my initiative,” she said. Going by Deepa’s statements, it appears that though the high command publicly maintained that it had left the Siliguri battle to “local leaders”, it stood by her to keep Trinamul at bay. The Congress’s defiance of Mamata in Siliguri may not necessarily be the beginning of the end of the Bengal alliance. The Congress central leadership today insisted the alliance was “intact”, suggesting it just wanted to show it could take a few risks in the battle of nerves with the mercurial ally. It is unlikely the Congress-Left understanding in Siliguri will be repeated in next year’s civic elections or in the 2011 Assembly polls. But the Congress’s new-found boldness, especially its decision to take the Left’s help, has the potential to add new dimensions to Bengal’s politics. The Siliguri move has served two purposes for the party. First, it has signalled the Congress’s defiance of Mamata, preparing it for tougher bargains with Trinamul in next year’s polls to 82 civic bodies, including the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, and the Assembly elections in 2011. Second, it has opened up possibilities of a Congress-Left rapprochement at a strategic level. In that sense, Siliguri has witnessed a reversal of Prakash Karat’s policy of a complete breakdown in Congress-communist understanding. All 17 Left Front councillors could not have voted for the Congress without state CPM leaders’ approval. A state CPM leader today said the party “distinguishes between the Congress and Trinamul”. Making or breaking alliances is not new at the municipal or panchayat levels. Parties frequently take the help of their rivals to form boards at the lower level. But the Siliguri episode is the first big jolt to the Congress-Trinamul alliance. By accepting the Left’s help, the Congress has also taken a gamble. Mamata has accused the Congress of getting into “an unholy nexus” with the CPM for usurping power in Siliguri. She alleged that the Congress had “betrayed” the people of Siliguri. A Congress leader said: “Mamata will definitely look for an opportunity to humiliate us in the near future.” BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT, Siliguri, Oct. 1: Supporters of the Trinamul Congress and the Congress ransacked the venue of a civic reception and abused Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi soon after results for the posts of mayor and chairperson of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation were announced this afternoon. The SMC had arranged for the civic reception at Rabindra Mancha in Baghajatin Park for the mayor, chairperson and the newly elected councillors after the oath-taking ceremony. Paritosh Roy, the civic commissioner, had sent invitations for the programme. But around 12.40pm, when the news of the Congress bagging both the key civic posts with Left support spread, about 100 supporters of the Congress and Trinamul along with some residents, who were waiting impatiently at the SMC gate, ran to the park in a fit of fury, abusing their leaders. The crowd at the park, about 300m from the corporation, waiting for the celebrations joined them and immediately started hurling the plastic chairs brought for the programme. The decorated reception venue soon turned into a mess as irate supporters threw and broke the tables, chairs, fans and tore down the festoons. “We are loyal to Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee. But we don’t want to see Gautam Deb or Shankar Malakar (the Darjeeling district presidents of Trinamul and the Congress) as leaders any more,” shouted Asit Ghosh, a Trinamul supporter, as he kicked and hurled chairs. “We contested the civic polls as an ally and the people voted in our favour. These leaders disrespect the verdict for their own interests and are responsible for today’s situation. The leaders who went for the bargaining and did not budge from their stance for vested interests should be thrown out of the party,” Ghosh said. Bhola Saha, a Collegepara resident who claimed to be a “common man” but favoured a change of guards at the SMC, spoke on the same lines. “People had trusted the alliance and exercised their franchise to ensure that it came to power to oust the Left. But all our efforts went in vain,” he said. As the rampage continued for around 30 minutes, more policemen — only 15-20 personnel were present at the park — brought the situation under control. Gaurav Sharma, the additional superintendent of police of Siliguri, and Prasanta Chanda and Sitaram Sinha, the two deputy superintendents, visited the SMC to prevent any untoward incident. The SMC commissioner said the civic reception was postponed for the day. “It will be held later in consultation with the mayor.” Later, at Hashmi Chowk around 2.15pm, more than 200 people assembled near the district Congress office, sloganeering against Das Munshi. The Raiganj MP had been actively involved in the civic election from the beginning. As Das Munshi boarded a vehicle to leave the premises, the mob encircled her car on Hill Cart Road and started abusing her, holding her responsible for the present situation. The irate supporters thumped on the bonnet and windows of the vehicle, asking her to “return to Raiganj and not to get involved in Siliguri issues”. About 10 minutes later, the police managed to escort her vehicle out. The situation was so tensed near the SMC that all Congress councillors, including the newly elected mayor and the chairperson, left the premises in a convoy of six vehicles with police escorts to reach the party office, hardly a kilometre away. In the afternoon, Congress supporters demonstrated in front of Malakar’s house at Babupara for about 45 minutes. The police persuaded the mob to disperse. Trinamul also took out processions in town, blaming its ally for joining hands with the Left. Trinamul on rampage after losing SMC poll SNS, SILIGURI, 1 OCT: Violation and vandalism marked the day after the Congress nominated candidate won the SMC mayor post with support from the Left Front candidates. Trinamul supporters went on the rampage after the Trinamul councillors, losing the mayor post to the Congress walked out of the SMC meeting hall.
A section of Trinamul supporters vandalised the venue at the Baghajatin Park for the felicitation of all elected councillors. Meanwhile, Trinamul and a section of Congress supporters detained the Congress Raiganj MP Mrs Deepa Das Munshi in her vehicle while she was leaving the party office.
After the election result to the Mayor post was declared, the Trinamool councillors walked out of the SMC building and rallied to the party office. In the meantime, angry and disappointed Trinamul supporters vandalized the stage set up to felicitate the councillors. Although the Trinamul leadership tried to prevent the supporters, they damaged hundreds of chairs, fans at the Baghajatin Park. The Trinamul supporters also shouted slogan against the Congress councillors leaving the SMC office.
Disappointed with the Congress leadership's decision to take support from the Left Front, a section of Congress workers assembled in front of the party district committee office and expressed dissatisfaction with the development. “Taking support from the CPI-M amounts to cheating the people. We appealed to vote for the alliance to oust the Left Front from the SMC, but now we accepted their support,” said a Congress worker Mr Tapan Saha.
Some Congress supporters also condemned the leadership for the act. “Being a local party worker, I have to answer to the people. And, I do not know what to say,” said another Congress supporter Mr Vinod Chowtala. “We worked day and night for the Congress-Trinamul alliance, all our effort went in vein. Now it would be very embarrassing for us,” he added.
The police are yet to start a case against the vandalism. “No complaint has yet been registered in this connection,” said the Darjeeling SP Mr DP Singh. Nantu Paul likely to become Siliguri deputy mayor SNS, SILIGURI, 1 OCT: Mr Nantu Paul, Congress councillor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation elected from Ward number 11 is likely to be the new deputy mayor of the civic body. Mr Paul, who was reportedly unhappy after the Congress leadership denied him the Mayor post, did not accompany the Congress councillors to the SMC office to file nominations for the Mayor and chairperson posts today. The Congress leadership, however, persuaded him to accept the deputy mayor post last night.
“The Congress-led Siliguri Municipal Corporation board would work for more development in the region and deliver better services to its residents,” said the newly elected SMC Mayor Miss Gangotri Datta. “I would try, in consultation with all elected councillors, to deliver better services and proper development,” Miss Datta, said sitting beside her possible deputy Mr Nantu Paul in the Mayor's office today.
The new Mayor would give priority to make the process of issuing trade license and building license “quick and uncomplicated.” “I would take initiative for equal development in the 14 added wards of the SMC and try to bring down the pollution level,” said Miss Datta. The new board would give more priority to the underdeveloped and slum dwellers, she said. Being the first woman to assume the office of SMC Mayor, Miss Datta, a lawyer, said: “I would give priority for the development of women. The new SMC board would also fetch more funds from the Centre,” she added.
The newly elected SMC chairperson, Mrs Sabita Agarwal said: “We would try to fulfill the people's expectations.” ;Suman Sahoo TT, Alipurduar, Oct. 1: Chamurchi Tea Estate reopened today with the new management vowing to turn around the garden in five years. Chamurchi Agro India Private Limited, which took over the garden that had been closed for seven years, arranged for a low-key programme to mark the opening. A puja was performed in a Shiv temple in the garden and sweets were distributed among workers. On the first day, about 700 labourers plucked tea leaves till 1pm. The tea leaves were then weighed and loaded on trucks which took the produce to factories in other gardens. After declaring the estate “opened”, R.P. Tiwari, the new executive director of Chamurchi Agro India Private Limited, said: “I know how to revive a sick industry as I had turned around three jute mills earlier. In the first five years, the company will invest money in the garden. We will focus on nourishing the bushes to improve the quality of the produce. We hope that the garden will make profit from the sixth year.” The estate is located at Banarhat, around 90km from here, in Jalpaiguri district. “If we can run the estate smoothly for at least one year, then the workers will have faith in us. There will be celebrations to mark the first anniversary of the re-opening,” said Tiwari. The official said all repairs in the garden factory would be finished by March 2010. “The garden is expected to get power connection soon and efforts are being made to solve water crisis the labourers are facing,” he added. Tiwari said the dues of the workers till March 31, 2001 would be paid in three installments. “The first instalment was paid on September 15 after the decision to reopen the estate was taken at a meeting on September 8. The rest of the dues will be cleared before August next year. Besides, each labourer will get Rs 1,000 every month for one year under FAWLOI (financial assistance to workers of locked out industries).” The garden, which is spread over 482 hectares, has tea plants only in 15 per cent of the area. The management has earmarked 200 more hectares for cultivation. Ratan Ram Ravi Das, the secretary of the operating and maintenance committee of the garden, offered co-operation on the part of the workers. “We are very happy today and we will extend all kinds of co-operation to the new management. Only time will tell whether the new company will be able to run the estate successfully. At least one year is needed to make any comment on the new management. ” Nur Maya Chhetry, a worker, was guarded in her reaction. “We have faced a lot of problems in the garden. Many people have died because of mal-nutrition and lack of health care facilities. While many children had to discontinue their education, a good number of boys and girls have gone to other states in search of jobs. We do not want a repetition of those bad days.” |
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
TT, Siliguri, Sept. 30: Aithey Sam, who had been abducted, was rescued by Pradhannagar police yesterday evening. Police said Sam, a resident of Bihar, had come to Siliguri and had put up at a hotel near Siliguri Junction from where he was abducted on September 27. One of the abductors, identified as Adip Sharma of Kalimpong, had called up Sam’s father Md Jamiruddin in Bihar, and demanded a ransom of Rs 7 lakh. When Jamiruddin informed Katihar police, they contacted their counterparts in Pradhannagar next day. Adip was arrested when he came to collect the ransom. Three of his cohorts, Jagadish Cintury of Gangtok, Jagat Biswakarma of Ranipul and Hemkumar Lohar of Rongpo were also arrested at Sevoke. Darjeeling roads’ cry for repair lead to nowhere ;Statesman News Service SILIGURI, 30 SEPT: A smooth ride to Darjeeling from Siliguri over National Highway 55 these days is a rare occurrence and few can boast of it. Yet, the repairing of roads often goes hand in hand with the damage wrought by the movement of vehicles, heavy or otherwise. But now, the situation has turned grim with the roads remaining full of the “hellholes” and those in charge of maintenance seemingly in somnolence. Apart from the discomfiture of the general commuters who move between the plains and the hills for commercial or other purposes, the tourists who are moving into the Hills in their thousands to savour the celestial charm of the place are having a harrowing time negotiating the zigzags crammed with death traps. The festive season tourist inflow is picking up. The number of the Hill-bound people is mounting. Yet, the district administration seems sleeping over the public inconvenience. According to Mr Uttam Saha, a tourist from Salt Lake, the three-hour journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling seems an endless encounter with hell. “The transcendental beauty all around paled into the background as we remained bogged down in struggling against the bumpy roads,” he said. “The road from Kurseong to Darjeeling is the worst. Strewn with potholes, it scared the hell out of us everytime our vehicle ran into one. When we reached Darjeeling we were reduced to heaps of insensitive chumps,” Mr Saha said. Recounting the same experience, Mr Sayan Saha, a 10-year-old-child, said that half the fun involved in stepping into the Himalayas for the first time was lost on the roads. “I am too exhausted to relish the splendour of nature,” he said. When asked about the pitiable conditions of roads, a senior engineer associated with the National Highway maintenance work, Mr Nirmal Mondal said that they had not done any real repair work beyond patchwork for the past five years. “A ministerial norm has come in the way of thorough repair work. We cannot give contract within five years after the completion of an allotted work,” he said. “But the real repair work would begin in the first week of October. And the roads would hopefully be made smooth within a fortnight,” Mr Mondal said. Apex court shield for Subba | |||||||||
SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY, TT , New Delhi, Sept. 30: The Supreme Court today refused to direct the CBI to take action against former Tezpur MP Moni Kumar Limba (Subba) even though the investigating agency has cast doubts about documents produced by the lottery king and politician in support of his nationality. “We will not give any directions to the CBI to take action,” a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, said, refusing a prayer by Noida resident Birendra Nath Singh. It was on Singh’s plea that the court had asked the CBI in 2005 to “verify” documents submitted by Subba. Some of these documents were submitted to the Election Commission in the run-up to elections and others to Parliament. Singh had alleged that Subba was actually a Nepali citizen, Mani Raj Limboo, who fled that country after committing a heinous crime and illegally settled down in India. Subba, however, claimed that he was born in Bengal and later migrated to Assam. Appearing for Singh, lawyer Ambhoj Kumar Sinha today argued that since the CBI report had gone against Subba, the court should “direct” the CBI to “take further action” against the MP, who lost the 2009 parliamentary elections from Tezpur. “An FIR should be filed and action taken against him,” Sinha argued. “He has committed all types of offences. This is a serious case. The court should take action against him,” Sinha said. But the court refused to countenance his prayer. Subba’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, however, opposed any such move. “He has a right to challenge the reports of the CBI,” Singhvi argued. The CBI has so far submitted three reports against Subba — the latest was placed before the court today. The CBI’s last report of December 10, 2007 had recommended that action should be taken against Subba under Sections 193 (fabricating false evidence), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 12 of the Indian Passports Act. Lawyers later said the court has full powers to direct the CBI to take action against Subba. “Otherwise, what was the purpose of the inquiry against him?” one of them said. “You cannot direct an inquiry and then refuse to take further action if any illegality is thrown up during the course of the inquiry,” lawyers said. “The CBI anyway does not require court permission to take action,” another lawyer said. The CBI had sparked a furore when it had claimed in the apex court on April 28, 2008 that Subba’s birth certificate and other documents, submitted to the Election Commission to prove his Indian nationality, appeared to be fake. Subba was one of the richest candidates to contest the 2009 elections — his income as disclosed to the Election Commission was around Rs 60 crore. This is not the first time that Subba’s nationality has been questioned. The CBI had probed his antecedents in 1997 after then Assam chief minister, Prafulla Mahanta, raised doubts about his citizenship. But the matter died down. TT, Calcutta, Sept. 30: AICC general secretary K. Keshava Rao spoke to Mamata Banerjee this afternoon in a last-ditch effort to avert tomorrow’s election to the posts of mayor and chairperson. The one thing that can avert a contest at this point is a declaration from either of the parties — Congress and the Trinamul Congress — to stay out of the fray. The nominations, however, cannot be withdrawn. “I have requested Mamataji to withdraw her candidates for the two key posts in Siliguri Municipal Corporation so that elections could be averted. I reasoned with her to part with the mayor’s post to the Congress to strengthen our alliance and take it forward to the 2011 Assembly polls,” Rao, who is in charge of the Congress’s Bengal affairs, told The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi. But Trinamul chief Mamata, who left for Delhi this afternoon, stuck to her guns and told the AICC leader to instead persuade his party councillors in Siliguri to back her nominees for the mayor and chairperson’s posts. “Before leaving for Delhi, Mamatadi made it clear to Rao that she would not budge an inch from her demand. She also requested him to accept her party councillor Gautam Deb as mayor,” said a Trinamul general secretary. Trinamul sources said Mamata had also requested Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee last night over the phone to persuade local-level Congress councillors in Siliguri to reach a consensus on the mayoral candidate through last-minute discussions. Mamata was under the impression that a majority of Congress councillors had accepted Deb as mayor after party MLA Partha Chatterjee spoke to them last week, sources in the party said. She was also confident that there would be a repeat of the Sealdah-Bowbazar by-elections when the Congress had conceded ground even after filing nominations for both the seats. But Mamata became upset after Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi stepped in to motivate the Congress councillors against the Trinamul candidates. “Didi does not like Deepa’s interference,” said a Trinamul MLA. Deepa, who wields considerable clout in north Bengal, had incurred Trinamul chief’s wrath prior to the Lok Sabha elections when she had publicly alleged that the party had made “an abject surrender to Mamata’s feet” by accepting only 14 of the 42 parliamentary seats. Against this backdrop, state Congress leaders feel that the alliance has hit a road block with Mamata insisting on getting the mayor’s post. “Both Congress and Trinamul have equal number of seats in Siliguri. We expected Mamata to leave the mayor’s post to the Congress to send a message across the state that her priority was to keep the alliance intact. But what she has done has lowered her image as a principal Opposition force in Bengal,” said PCC working president Subrata Mukherjee. TT, Siliguri, Sept. 30: The Congress and the Trinamul Congress have fielded separate candidates for the mayor and the chairperson, two posts for which elections be held tomorrow exposing the rift in the alliance that had wrested the Siliguri Municipal Corporation from the Left Front after 28 years. The district magistrate of Darjeeling, Surendra Gupta, said unlike other elections, the nominations could not be withdrawn and voting would be through secret ballots. “There is no provision of withdrawal in the municipal act, under which the election will be conducted. We will be present to conduct and monitor the poll process,” Gupta said. With scopes of withdrawal lost, any last-minute deal will now be unofficial. Trinamul district president Gautam Deb has been selected the mayoral candidate while Arindam Mitra, the councillor for Ward 13, will contest for the chairman’s post. The Congress has projected Gangotri Dutta of Ward 12 as the mayor and Sabita Devi Agarwal as the chairperson. Trinamul, which has won 14 seats in the 47-ward corporation and enjoys the support of the lone Independent, is, however, still hoping that elections will be averted. The Congress bagged 15 seats and has been staking claim to the mayor’s post, citing the number factor and claiming that the region is a stronghold of the party. “We could not reach a consensus (with the Congress on the choice of mayor),” Deb said after coming out of the SMC commissioner’s chamber today. “Nevertheless, options for adjustment are still open and we will prefer to see that no elections are held tomorrow.” Since all the 47 councillors have the right to exercise the franchise, those from the Left Front are expected to play a decisive role especially if there is cross-voting between the Congress and Trinamul. Asok Bhattacharya, the district Left Front convener and the municipal affairs minister, however, refused to reveal much. “All we can say is that such moves (filing of nominations by both parties) would only lead to a state of uncertainty and instability at the SMC. Regarding participation of our councillors in the election, we are yet to decide.” At the district Congress office, tempers flared and charges flew over the choice of the party leader of the civic body. The rift has been evident from the time the election results were declared on September 15 and The Telegraph had reported that party had been divided on its choice of the leader. While a section preferred the “clean image” of Gangotri Dutta, others wanted a veteran like Gouri Dutta. Some others felt that Nantu Pal should be “rewarded” for having deserted the CPM and joining the Congress. This afternoon, Pal stormed out of the party office when Shankar Malakar and Biswaranjan Sarkar, the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district presidents of the Congress were discussing the nominees with Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi and PCC member Sankar Singha. Journalists waiting outside the room overheard Malakar plead: “Nantu, listen, don’t go away. Don’t act like an immature person.” He raced after Pal down the stairs and tried to persuade him to stay back even as Gangotri’s name was finalised as the mayoral candidate. Soon, a number of women councillors — all 15 of them were present — expressed their resentment, blaming the leadership for choosing Gangotri, questioning why Gouri was being left out. This was not the end. Malakar then paraded some of the probable candidates for the chairperson’s post in front of Das Munshi and Singha. Finally, the selectors zeroed in on Sabita Devi Agarwal, who won from Ward 9. At 12.40pm, the Congress leaders, led by Malakar, started for the SMC and reached the commissioner’s chamber minutes before the filing of nomination ended at 1pm. “We are open to discussion and still believe that there are scopes for negotiation. Regarding the elections, we are confident that our candidates will win,” said Malakar. Paritosh Roy, the SMC commissioner, said election of the mayor would be conducted under the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006 and Siliguri Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Business Conduct) Rules, 1996. “All the 47 councillors will take oath in the morning tomorrow. After that the voting will take place through secret ballot,” Roy said. |
