Kolkata
Citizens of Kolkata will be queuing up on Saturday to elect councillors to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, as an all-out battle has been launched by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to retain the prestigious civic body for the third time in a row.
West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee held a rally in south Kolkata considered the borough of the party along with thousands of supporters joining her as a show of strength. Speaking at the rally, Banerjee praised the civic body’s performance and took on the main rivals, the BJP and the CPI-M for conducting a malicious campaign against her party.
“The TMC-led Kolkata Municipal Corporation has done really well in the past five years. There has been no shortage of drinking water in the city, no power cut and no water logging. The quality of roads has also increased considerably. The civic board has performed exceedingly well,” Banerjee said.
She also attacked the BJP which has been posing as the principal challenger to the party. “They do not have the courage to fight me politically and that’s why they are using agencies like the CBI and the ED. They are now questioning about the money earned from the sale of my paintings. But why should I answer them?” Banerjee questioned.
Initially though, Banerjee was not keen to campaign for the civic polls as she was sure of victory. However, few within the party, urged her to do so as they were afraid of the rise of the BJP.
For the TMC though, it is not a tough battle, as none of the opposition parties — BJP, CPI-M and the Congress party — have been able to mount a considerable campaign to win over the popular vote. The party is eyeing a tally of 115 seats as per its internal assessment. An opinion poll conducted by a news channel known for its anti-TMC thrust has predicted the ruling party to bag 103 seats of the 144-ward.
“If they give us 103 that means we will safely win at least 15 more wards. With every passing day support for our party is growing by leaps and bounce especially among the youth who are a critical vote mass,” said Partha Chatterjee, TMC secretary-general.
“We are happy to inform that CPI-M remains our main opponent and BJP is all set to emerge a poor third. Congress party may, like in the recent Delhi elections, fail to open its account in the polls or at most will win a couple of seats. There is hardly any opposition except for a section of the media,” Chatterjee added.
Apart from Kolkata, 91 other civic bodies involving 2190 seats would go to polls on April 18 and April 25 respectively. The counting of votes for all the municipalities will be held on April 28.
