Amid reports of regular migration from the Trinamool Congress to other Opposition parties, particularly the CPI(M), the Bengal ruling outfit on Monday suffered yet another blow with at least a thousand party men led by a district secretary and a bevy of panchayat members joining the Congress.
The seemingly mass migration took place in Malda days ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to this Muslim-dominated North Bengal district.
Malda District TMC secretary Md Hosamuddin joined the Congress along with a thousand party members alleging rampant corruption and what he called “cut money raj.”
“People like us had been with the Congress since the days of ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury. Subsequently we joined the TMC inspired by Mamata Banerjee’s sacrifices … but of late there has been a massive degeneration in the TMC … though the top leadership speaks of ‘zero tolerance to corruption’ here the leaders are sunk neck-deep in it … there is cut-money raj everywhere … posts are sold in lieu of money … the people are very angry with the ministers and MLAs who are going to jail on charges of corruption … so I along with many of my party men have decided to join the Congress,” Hosamuddin said adding many more leaders would soon switch sides.
Malda borders another Muslim dominated district of Murshidabad that recently saw a Left-supported Congress candidate winning the Sagardighi Assembly by-elections defeating the ruling party by a whopping 27,000 votes.
While Murshidabad --- which too has of late seen massive exodus in the TMC camp --- has about 69 percent Muslim population minorities account for about 60 percent voter percentage in adjacent Malda district.
Though the TMC leadership in Kolkata refused to comment on the Malda episode, inside sources said the party leadership was worried about the recent spate of desertion particularly in the minority belts.
This, because almost 90 percent of the State’s 30 percent strong