Mamata for a mahajot model

Statesman News Service

MALDA. Jan. 12. — Trinamul Congress president, Miss Mamata Banerjee, will reach here on Saturday to hold a meeting with the local party leaders on the issue of grand alliance of the opposition parties for the forthcoming Assembly elections and to chalk out strategy to “dislodge” the LF-backed English Bazaar municipal board in Malda. After the meeting, she will attend a public rally in south Dinajpur. Miss Banerjee has reportedly told the Malda Trinamul leaders that she would not address a public meeting here if they failed to form the English Bazaar Municipality board with the help of the Congress and the BJP, dislodging the present board. Miss Banerjee had instructed even the rebel Trinamul leader, Mr Dulal Sarkar, to take the responsibility to dislodge the present board and to form a new one. The objective of this instruction is to create a model and tell people that three anti-Left parties can form the board of Malda Zilla Parishad and the English Bazaar municipality under the leadership of the veteran Congress leader, Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. Mr Sarkar had cast his vote in favour of the LF-backed Independent councilor as chairman and the anti-left forces were out of power even though they had more than 13 councilors on their side out of total 25 member board. Following the instruction, the Trinamul councilors were united, and with the help of one BJP councilor and three Congress ones out of the four, had called a no confidence motion against the present board a few weeks ago. The present board chairman did not call the meeting within the stipulated time from the date of its submission of no confidence against him. According to the Municipality Act, the time of calling the meeting to prove majority of the present board will be over on 14 January. “We are ready to call the meeting of no confidence if they do not call meeting to prove their majority by 14 January. It would be finalised on Saturday after discussing the matter with Miss Mamata Banerjee”, said Mrs Prativa Singh, a Trinamul councilor.