Thaindian News

Kolkata, Oct 1 (IANS) After a long-drawn tug of war over the mayor’s seat in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, the Congress finally formed the city civic board Thursday with the support of West Bengal’s ruling Left Front (LF), leaving its national alliance partner Trinamool Congress high and dry.
Trinamool Congress, which is an ally of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre, decided to part with its partner and chose to sit in the opposition in the municipal corporation.

“We’ve decided to sit in the opposition in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The Congress has formed an unholy alliance with the Left Front and won the tie. Subsequently, they’ll form the civic board also,” Darjeeling district Trinamool Congress president and party’s mayoral candidate Gautam Deb said.

“We’ll reach out to common people who reposed their faith on the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine as a political alternative in Siliguri. We’ll launch our political campaign in Siliguri now,” Deb said, and added his party would play the role of a construction opposition in the civic body.

The Congress has won the electoral tie in the Siliguri civic body with a margin of 32:15 votes of councillors, with the support of the Left Front members. Sources claimed the Congress had sought the Left Front’s backing.

Congress-nominated candidate Gayetri Dutta has been elected as the mayor.

The Congress and the Trinamool Congress were caught in a political row over the mayor’s seat in Siliguri with both sides filing nominations for the post Wednesday.

Both the parties laid claim to the mayor’s chair after the Siliguri municipal polls resulted in a tie. They have 15 seats each.

The Congress won 15 seats and Trinamool 14 in the elections but Mamata Banerjee’s party claimed the support of an independent candidate, Ranjan Sil Sharma, to equal the Congress number.