Susanta Ranjan Upadhyaya spineless, entirely useless; should resign: Biman Bose

On Monday, Upadhyaya had said that KMC elections — held on April 18 — had recorded a voter turnout of 68.56 per cent — up from 62.46 per cent that he had announced on the day of the elections. Referring to the change in the turnout, Bose asked: “Was the increase in turnout after 48 hours owing to some invisible voters or some phantoms cast votes?”

He claimed that the number of poll related complaints received by the poll panel shows elections were not held in an ideal condition. “If the election commissioner expresses his helplessness in everything, what is the point in maintaining the Commission and incurring such huge expenses? He is like an appendix to the state government. Entirely useless but is there by default. He should have the courage to put in his papers and say that he was stepping down because he was unable to function under this government,” Bose said.

“The number of incidents of violence that has taken place under Trinamool is unprecedented… The party has taken to the practice of dividing the common man on the basis of religion in a manner different from the BJP but amounting to the same thing,” he added.

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“We apprehend that just like the KMC polls, there won’t be any free and fair elections to the 91 municipalities on April 25 as the TMC has forced several of our candidates to withdraw,” Bose said.

Taking a lesson from KMC polls, Bose said CPM workers will hit the streets on April 25 if free and fair elections were prevented by Trinamool in the 91 municipalities across the state. “There cannot be the repetition of the same thing over and over again. We will put up resistance… we will decide on the manner in a meeting tomorrow,” he added.

Meanwhile, declining to comment on the possibility of political adjustments with Congress in Bengal with the change of guard in the CPM, Bose said it was for the party to decide on the matter.

When asked whether there was a possibility of political adjustments with the Congress and other secular parties in Bengal before the 2017 Assembly elections, Bose said, “I am just an individual. I am not the party. Decisions are taken in our highest decision making body, the Politburo, then Central Committee and then the state committee. So, if such issues come up in the party, we will let you know.”