‘Gautam Deb has lost his mental balance after defeat’

They don’t stand a chance. Of the 47 seats, we have secured 23 and the lone Independent candidate has expressed his willingness to lend support to the Left. The BJP and Congress candidates have decided they will keep a distance.

What other obstructions do you anticipate?

I apprehend that the TMC government would get all the 23 winning councillors of CPM arrested on false charges. Already there have been several attempts to implicate our workers in false cases. Gautam Deb has lost his mental balance after the defeat. He needs professional help.

Why is your party holding a rally on May 7?

Although there is a time-limit of one month to file the notification after the result is out on May 7, we will take out a rally demanding the board’s formation because the government had been proactive in forming the new board for Kolkata Municipal Corporation much before the term ended. Siliguri Municipal Corporation had been functioning without its chief for about 10 months now. We have a feeling the state government is delaying the notification because of some ill-intentions.

How has the newly-elected general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, reacted?

He had called and is naturally very happy about it.

Do you think the Siliguri model of your success should be duplicated across the state for the CPI(M) which had been trying to make a comeback?

I am a small leader who has been following the party’s model properly. We had to connect with people, convince them that they should go out and cast their votes (for us). It was not done overnight. We raised public issues in the last three years. Our win shows that no power is invincible in a democratic setup. The state leadership is naturally happy with our success; even Opposition members have called up to congratulate me. Our mantra was to build and hold on to our mental strength and not to cow down to the ruling party’s atrocities. If the state leadership thinks this method should be applied at other places, it will say so.