Kolkata: Municipal polls in Asansol Municipal Corporation and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (Saltlake) on Saturday will set the tone for the assembly elections in West Bengal next year.
While the apparent electoral invincibility of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) will be challenged by the BJP a seemingly resurgent Communist Part of India — Marxist (CPM) post its recent success in various programmes, will go all out to win back the support of voters in the two municipal elections, which have been dubbed the last great fight before next year’s assembly elections.
The Asansol Municipal Corporation was formed by merging Raniganj, Jamuria and Kulti municipalities, while the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation was constituted by merging Saltlake and Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipalities.
The TMC’s campaign in Salklake is led by state Food Supplies Minister and party’s North 24-Parganas district president Jyotipriyo Mullick, legislators Sujit Bose and Sabyasachi Dutta and Tapas Chatterjee, whereas CPM campaign is being headed by Bengal’s longest serving former finance minister Asim Dasgupta, who once chaired the Goods and Service Tax reforms in India.
“I know people are raising questions as to how a former minister can fight a municipal election? But, in CPM, we do not have such issues. We have taken the election to prove the massive resurgence of the Left,” said Dasgupta, who served as West Bengal’s finance minister for 24 years.
Dasgupta though perfectly reflected the state of affairs with the once invisible CPM which is now struggling to find candidates for its party.
For BJP it is a prestige fight for Urban Development Minister Babul Supriyo, who surprised many by winning the parliamentary elections in 2014 for the Asansol constituency by defeating Dola Sen of the TMC.
“It is a fight against good and bad governance. I am unable to implement various programs in the area due non-cooperation from the state government. we will certainly win the elections and transform the area into a model for the rest of the country,” said Supriyo.
Though for TMC it was expected to be a cake walk, infighting within has put the party on a backfoot, wherein chief minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee had to intervene frequently to stop the fractional war within in both the municipal areas.
“There is no infighting and all the stories are being circulated by a section of the media for personal gains. He people will vote for the developmental work ushered by Mamata Banerjee.” Mullick.
However, what was supposed to be a four-corner fight has turned into a three-corner battle with Congress party almost non-existent in this last round of battle before the assembly elections.
“The state of Congress party is very ambiguous as in the state as the party itself is at war within and campaign has taken a back seat,” said a party insider.
