After the rural elections Bengal’s Trinamool Congress has posted an emphatic win in the crucial municipal polls winning eight out of 12 civic bodies.
The election results are regarded crucial because it adds another feather in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s cap ahead of the next year’s general polls pushing up her outfit’s saleability in the ‘coalition market’ vis a vis the left Front which is also looking for allies to stay afloat in the national politics.
The Marxists’ biggest concern is the humiliating defeat it suffered in Burdwan the strongest Red fortress in the State.
left Front that had in 2008 elections won five municipalities this time lost four and retained only one finishing behind the Congress which managed to win two municipal bodies.
The Trinamool Congress won eight municipalities. The only one municipality in Alipurduar in North Bengal threw up a hung board
where the left Front won eight seats and Congress and the TMC won six seats each.
Curiously in its worst ever performance the left Front drew a blank in Burdwan and Chakdaha two of its strongest fortresses. In both the boards the Trinamool won 35-0. In fact the left had withdrawn from the fray on the poll day on Saturday complaining massive violence and rigging by the ruling outfit.
The elections had recorded more than 80 per cent polling. The Congress has won the Dalkhola and Haldibari boards while the left Front has bagged the insignificant Mekhliganj municipality.
Another erstwhile Red fort at Panihati in North 24 Parganas saw the left winning only three seats as against the Trinamool’s 30. In Balurghat the TMC won 25 seats as against the left’s 11 while in Dubrajpur the Trinamool bagged 16 seats. Curiously here even the BJP stayed ahead of the left Front winning two seats against the left’s one.
At Gushkara the ruling party won 11 against the Marxists’ five seats. In Diamond Harbour the Trinamool won 10 seats while the left managed only three. The Congress won two and the BJP one seat. The scene in Habra was no different where the ruling outfit romped home with 15 seats against the left’s eight and Congress’ one.
The win also comes as a shot in the arm for Mamata Banerjee whose party has been witnessing fiercest rebellion since its resurgence in 2009 with 4-5 MPs openly questioning the top leadership’s style of functioning. The victory could help Banerjee suppress at least for the time being the rebel voices of Kunal Ghosh, Shatabdi Roy and Tapas Paul.
The CM, who was touring Purulia and announced a host of projects, thanked the people saying “it once again proves that the people of the State are with the Trinamool Congress and its developmental works.” However CPI (M) State secretary Biman Bose blamed rampant violence by the ruling party for the left’s humiliating defeat.
The Trinamool’s massive win in both the rural and municipal polls tends to keep Banerjee in a comfortable position ahead of the general elections where the Bengal Chief Minister is reportedly planning to play a major king maker.