The Hindu : Setback again to Trinamool in civic polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 06, 2002

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Setback again to Trinamool in civic polls

By Our Special Correspondent

Kolkata Dec. 5. After being routed in at least three civic boards by the ruling leftists over the past few months, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress lost yet another on Wednesday, thanks to the intra-party feud.

The Trinamool lost the Hooghly-Chinsurah board to the CPI(M), the leader of the ruling Left Front in the State, when two rebel Trinamool councillors voted against their own chairman in the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition.

The board, which was run by the Congress-Trinamool combine, lost the motion by 16 ballots to 14.The board has 30 councillors.

Recently, four Trinamool councillors had withdrawn support to the board charging the chairman with corruption and resigned from the party. Two of them, however, later re-joined the party. The CPI(M) grabbed the opportunity and wrested the board from the Trinamool.

It is believed that the Trinamool-run Baidyabati municipality, too, is facing problems because of the feuding party functionaries.

At a moment when Ms. Banerjee is facing a humiliating defeat at the hands of the CPI(M) in the civic boards, one of the key party functionaries and the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Pankaj Banerjee created a furore when on Tuesday he publicly criticised Ms. Banerjee for her "undemocratic style of functioning".

Predictably, Ajit Panja, the recalcitrant Trinamool MP, is happy with the developments as he thinks that he had taken the right step by revolting against Ms. Banerjee. Meanwhile, Ms. Banerjee is awaiting a signal from the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to re-join his Cabinet. The Trinamool chief, who was camping in Delhi for the past two weeks, had lobbied hard for a berth in the Cabinet without which she finds it difficult to retain her grip over the party.

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Setback again to Trinamool in civic polls