Fresh jolt for L F in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 5: The Malda Left Front received a fresh jolt today when its candidate, Mr Samar Roy, lost the district planning commission vice chairman’s post by one vote to the Congress candidate, Md Sahid.After the controversy surrounding the Malda Zilla Parishad (MZP) annual budget and Old Malda Municipality row, today’s defeat has further embarrassed the Left Front leaders here.It may be recalled that the rift within the Malda Left Front came to fore recently when the Congress-run Malda Zilla Parishad managed to pass its annual budget with support from CPI and FB leaders. Also, a few days back, six LF leaders joined hands to bring a no-confidence motion against the CPI-M chairman of the Old Malda Municipality. Mr Samar Roy has been ousted from the vice chairman’s post despite the fact that the LF enjoys a majority in the DPC.While Mr Roy is a former CPI-M MLA from English Bazaar, his Congress rival, Md Sahid, is a member of the MZP. The DPC, formed to formulate and implement plans, comprises 41 members, including 31 MZP members and eight government nominees. The rest two members are from the two municipalities of the district. The chairman of the committee is sabhadipati of the MZP.With three posts lying vacant, all 38 members were present today. Among them, the district magistrate had no voting right. Among the 37 electors, the Left Front had 19 members while the Congress had 18 members, including the sabhadipati. But after the election that was held in the secret ballot, it was revealed that Md Sahid of the Congress got 19 votes, while Mr Roy managed 18 votes. “I don’t know who among us had voted against our candidate. The Congress resorted to horse trading to capture the post”, said Mr Jiban Moitra, convenor of the Malda district Left Front and secretary of the Malda CPI-M.Even the Congress candidate, Md Sahid, said he had no idea about who cast vote in his favour.