After Jangipur, TMC set to wrest another Murshidabad municipality

Eleven elected councillors of the Left Front are set to defect to the TMC in the presence of TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. (second from right)

After taking over Jangipur municipality in Murshidabad, the Trinamool Congress is all set to grab another the Jiaganj-Azimganj municipality in the district. Eleven elected councillors of the Left Front, led by three-times CPM chairman of the municipality, Shankar Mondal, will defect to the TMC on Saturday in the presence of TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, sources said.

The Trinamool had failed to win any of the 17 seats of the Jiaganj-Azimganj municipality in the last civic polls, with the Left winning 13 seats and the Congress grabbing four. Sources said the 11 councillors would join under the leadership of Soumik Hossain, former state youth Congress president from Murshidabad, who had defected to the TMC recently.

Hossain had also helped the Left members of the municipality by keeping them under his custody till they formally joined the TMC. While Mondal said the councillors were defecting for the sake of development in their area, CPM zonal secretary Dipankar Chakraborty alleged that the Opposition party leaders had been “unethically lured” by the TMC, and the excuse of development was just an eyewash.

State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, too, ridiculed the move and said the TMC never believed in democracy. He alleged that the ruling party had initially caused an economic blockade, and later threatened and enticed members to their side. He added that if the TMC believed in democracy, they should have fought an election and won it.