Simmering bitterness between allies Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the state unit of the Congress came to the fore on Saturday, with TMC leader Mamata Banerjee clarifying it would fight the Panchayat elections on its own.
“Our alliance in Delhi (with the UPA) is there, and will be there till we get respect. But in Bengal, Trinamool will go it alone,” Banerjee said, while addressing the Martyrs’ Day rally here. She added the Panchayat elections would be held after the Durga Puja festival, marking a tentative December-January date.
Banerjee also refuted purported allegations raised by the state Congress unit against her government. “Every evening, Congressmen dress up and sit in front of CPI(M)-backed news channels, where they create mountains out of small incidents. We will not stand for this anymore,” she said.
Responding to Banerjee, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya said it was unfortunate Banerjee was making allegations after winning the elections. “If this is the way she feels, she should never have fought the elections with us. If she wants to fight alone now, we have no objections,” he said. However, he ruled out the possibility of the state Congress walking out of the cabinet in Bengal.
State Congress leaders were not invited to take part in on Saturday’s rally.
Banerjee has held rallies on July 21 to mark Martyr’s Day since 1993, when 13 people were killed in police firing on this date. On Saturday, an estimated 6,00,000 people attended the rally.
Banerjee’s speech on Saturday resonated with political rhetoric. She expounded on the hundreds of deaths in struggles like the ones at Singur and Nandigram. However, amid her usual anti-Left rhetoric was enumeration of her achievements as chief minister. “We have filled 17,000 ponds, attracted investments of Rs 1 lakh crore, created six lakh jobs and three new universities,” she said. Her unfulfilled promises, she attributed to West Bengal’s debt-ridden situation. “If I have to spend Rs 25,000 crore in loan interest payment, what funds am I to use for development?” she argued.
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Banerjee claimed despite pressure, the state government had not raised power rates.
However, according to data from state power utilities, in the past six months, these rates rose by Rs 1.55 to Rs 5.88 per unit.
She added she would wait for a few more months after which TMC members of Parliament and members of legislative assembly would meet the prime minister regarding a moratorium on the state’s debt repayment.
TMC withdraws all 17 party aspirants from GTA election
In what can best be seen as a sign of TMC’s appeasement of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), Banerjee on Saturday announced the withdrawal of all 17 candidates from the coming Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections. “We have taken an important decision to withdraw 17 party candidates who were to contest the GTA election….in the greater interest of democracy...We don't want any confrontation with GJM,” she said.
The GJM was set to win unopposed in 28 of the 45 allocated seats. Now, with the TMC withdrawing its candidates, the GTA council would have members from the GJM alone.