By IANS,
Kolkata : After a long-drawn political battle over the mayor’s seat in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, the Congress Thursday formed the city civic board with support from West Bengal’s ruling Left Front (LF), leaving its national alliance partner Trinamool Congress in the lurch.
Trinamool Congress, which is an ally of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre, decided to part with its partner and chose to sit in the opposition in the municipal corporation.
Terming the political move as an “unholy nexus” between the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said in a telephonic interview to a vernacular television channel here: “The Congress has belied the mandate of the people in Siliguri, who voted for a political alternative. But they (Congress) breached their trust. Our party has been very transparent on the whole issue.
“We will continue to work for the interest of the common masses. And people still believe that Trinamool Congress only can bring change in the state.”
She said that people of Siliguri wanted the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine and so they voted for the opposition alliance.
“I respect the terms and conditions of alliance politics and since we’re supporting the Manmohan Singh government at the centre, I would not say much on the issue right now,” Banerjee went on, adding: “The Congress and the CPI-M have again proved that they are together.”
The Congress and the Trinamool Congress were caught in a political row over the mayor’s seat in Siliguri with both sides filing nominations for the post Wednesday.
Both the parties laid claim to the mayor’s chair after the Siliguri municipal polls resulted in a tie. They have 15 seats each.
The Congress won 15 seats and Trinamool 14 in the elections but Mamata Banerjee’s party claimed the support of an independent candidate, Ranjan Sil Sharma, to equal the Congress number.
The Congress has won the electoral tie in the Siliguri civic body with a margin of 32:15 votes of councillors, with the support of the Left Front members.
Congress-nominated candidate Gayetri Dutta has been elected as the mayor.
Meanwhile, CPI-M leader and West Bengal Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Ashok Bhattacharya said that supporting the Congress in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation was not a political decision.
“We supported the Congress as we saw there was uncertainty in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation over the formation of the city civic board. Thus, we gave our support to the Congress,” Bhattacharya said.
Termong the move as apolitical, he said: “We can’t support the Trinamool Congress as they are anti-development.”
“Trinamool Congress is a political party of anti-socials. So we decided to support Congress,” said Siliguri strongman Bhattacharya.
After 27 years, the Congress-Trinamool alliance managed to unseat the Left Front in the Siliguri civic body elections, once considered as a communist citadel, held last month.