Trinamul Congress chairperson and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s indication to prepone the three-tier panchayat elections may come as a morale booster for the CPI(M). Her announcement that the Trinamul Congress will fight the rural polls on its own will also help the CPI(M) and the Congress come closer and make a unified alliance against the Trinamul Congress.
The panchayat elections are due in May 2013. However, Ms Banerjee on Saturday indicated it would be held after the Durga Puja. According to the act, the elected panchayat bodies cannot be dissolved before completion of their five years’ tenure. Hence, if the elections are held in advance then the newly-elected representatives will have to wait before taking guards till the existing bodies complete their five years’ term.
“Initially, Didi had wanted to prepone the panchayat elections but Subratada (Subrata Mukherjee) made her understand about this provision in the act. Hence, she abandoned the plan. However, now she is feeling that unless most of the rural bodies come under the control of the Trinamul Congress, her vision to develop rural Bengal will not get fulfilled. So she is now planning to advance the polls and also amend the relevant act so that the newly-elected representatives can take guards after the announcement of the results,” a senior Trinamul Congress leader said.
Inarguably, the Trinamul Congress will convincingly win the next panchayat elections. But Ms Banerjee’s plan to prepone the elections may come as a silver lining for the CPI(M) and Congress. They will go to the people saying that the elected representatives were not allowed to complete their tenure. “The Trinamul Congress’ support base in rural Bengal is eroding fast. Moreover, increasing factional feud in the party for power in rural areas is a cause of great concern for Ms Banerjee. She is thinking that if the elections are held in advance then she can address both these pressing problems. We know that in most of the areas we cannot field candidates due to the political hooliganism of the ruling party. It will benefit us later to get back the people’s support,” a CPI(M) state committee member said.
On being contacted, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya admitted that Ms Banerjee’s announcement to fight the panchayat polls alone would bring the CPI(M) and the Congress closer. “On the grassroot level, the workers of the Congress and the CPI(M) can form grand alliance to fight against the Trinamul Congress in the panchayat polls in many places,” he said.