Following a jolt the CPIM got after a member of the Left Front-run Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP) switched sides and joined the Trinamul Congress, the party has said it will launch a campaign by highlighting the consequences faced by a former board member who had also ditched the CPI-M and joined the ruling party.
In the meantime, the ruling party has set a deadline to introduce a no-confidence motion against the board after it completed a period of twoand- a-half years. Following the departure of the former CPI-M MLA and Darjeeling district secretariat member of the party, Choton Kisku, yesterday, the Left Front is down to five members at the SMP, while the Trinamul has four.
Mr Kisku, who also holds the post of the ‘Purta Karmadhyaksha’ at the SMP, has been expelled from the CPIM. The Left Front had defeated the Trinamul 6-3 in the nineseat SMP polls in October 2015. Darjeeling district Left Front convener and district CPI-M secretary Jibesh Sarkar on Friday claimed that all the five remaining members were united.
“They will not buckle under any pressure, or fall prey to temptations. All are united. We will go for intensive campaign against the TMC’s unethical means to wrest control of elected bodies and the consequences faced by Jyoti Tirkey,” Mr Sarkar said.
In the SMP elections in 2009, the Left Front won four of the seven seats, while the Congress won three. Later, the Congress members and a CPI-M member and Sahakari Sabhadhipati, Ms Tirkey, switched over to the ruling party.
After it got majority then, without winning a single seat in the elections, the Trinamul brought in a noconfidence motion against the former SMP Sabhadhipati of the CPI-M, Pascal Minz.
In the process, the CPI-M was ejected from the SMP, with Ms Tirkey, elected on a CPI-M ticket, voting in favour of the motion. Ms Tirkey later became the SMP Sabhadhipati. However, she tasted defeat in the Panchayat Samity elections in 2015. Meanwhile, CPI-M leaders said Mr Kisku showed disrespect to the party and that his move was an injustice to party supporters.
SMP Sabhadhipati Tapas Sarkar said that the ruling party has been luring leaders by giving them a good stand in their party. “Earlier, the Trinamul Congress lured a CPI-M leader by giving her a good stand in the party. The former leader was made the sabhadhipati of the SMP, but was removed from that position after some time. What was the outcome finally?” Mr Sarkar lamented.
Condemning Mr Kisku’s switch to the TMC, Mr Sarkar added, “We do not entertain leaders who cheat the party and the people. We are boycotting him from the party under provision 19 A/13 of our party’s statute.”