The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) today swept municipal elections in the state, winning 36 municipalities out of 81 where elections were held. The state’s ruling Left Front could secure only 18, while the Congress managed a win in only six civic bodies.
Among TMC’s victories were the prestigious municipalities of Kolkata and its adjoining Salt Lake area.
While Banerjee celebrated her party’s victory in the civic polls in Kolkata, the first Nano — which began its journey from the rural hinterland of West Bengal in Singur — vroomed out of the new Sanand plant in Gujarat.
Incidentally, the revival of Banerjee’s political career too had begun in Singur, where she had organised a peasants’ movement against the acquisition of farmland for the Tata Nano factory in 2008, forcing Ratan Tata to withdraw the project from Bengal.
“The verdict is loud and clear,” said a beaming Mamata. “The CPI(M) has lost all moral authority to rule the state. The assembly election should be held immediately,” she added.
The results have once again established Banerjee as the formidable challenger to the Left Front, which has been ruling since 1977. State assembly polls are due next year.
