Rebel rout leaves Anubrata red faced

The clues are apparent in a scrutiny of the panchayat results of the areas where rebel Trinamool candidates have decimated the official (read Mondal’s) candidates, making the formidable district leader bite the dust.

Ever wondered why Trinamool Congress Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal lost his cool to the extent of urging his followers to destroy and burn down the houses of independent candidates in the district and even hurl bombs at the police if they came to resist their designs?

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The clues are apparent in a scrutiny of the panchayat results of the areas where rebel Trinamool candidates have decimated the official (read Mondal’s) candidates, making the formidable district leader bite the dust.

Here are some examples.

In the three panchayat samiti seats within Singhee gram panchayat area of Bolpur-Sriniketan block, independents have secured 3,810, 3,936 and 3,737 votes against Trinamool’s 294, 349 and 183, respectively.

In the two panchayat samiti seats at Bahiri-Panchshowa gram panchayat area of the same block, Trinamool candidates have got 192 and 265 votes, against 4,242 and 3,757 votes secured by independents, respectively. In Singhee gram panchayat’s seat nos IV, V and VI, Trinamool’s official candidates have got 8, 22 and 41 votes against 478, 615 and 499 votes secured by the independents, respectively.

While independents have clinched both of these gram panchayats, they gave a tough fight to Trinamool’s official candidates at Kasba and Kankalitala gram panchayats in the same block and Thupsara in Nanoor block. Trinamool managed to win the panchayats after close contest.

“Mondal knew his candidates would be trounced. That is why he was so aggressive against the independents,” a Trinamool leader of Birbhum told HT.

Rebel Trinamool workers contesting as independents have defeated the party’s official candidates in Nandigram of East Midnapore district and Arambagh of Hooghly district, too.

While independents have won three gram panchayats in Nandigram, they have won Trinamool’s equal number of seats at another gram panchayat.

In Arambagh, rebel Trinamool workers have won Malaypur II gram panchayat, besides winning seats in some other gram panchayats, too.

While Trinamool leaders in East Midnapore and Hooghly are ready to embrace the independents and have declared them as ‘our own men’, the Birbhum district president is fuming.

“All the independents won by CPI(M)’s votes and we’ll treat them as CPI(M) men,” Mondal said.

He even alleged that a section of party rebels rigged polls in favour of CPI(M) to help them win from the only zilla parishad seat in Nanoor that they contested. Subhendu Adhikary, Trinamool Youth Congress president and local MP, however, is at ease with the victory of rebel party workers.

“They are all our own men. They were aggrieved with not getting a ticket,” he said.

VIOLENCE CLAIMS TWO

Violence erupted across the state on Tuesday even before counting for the three-tier panchayat polls could be completed, claiming two lives and injuring over a dozen.

Both the casualties occurred in Malda as CPI(M) and Congress party offices lay in ruins in Hooghly and North 24 Parganas. Clashes between Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Congress were reported from various parts of Bengal.