Kolkata, Oct 1 (Inditop.com) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and West Bengal minister Ashok Bhattacharya Thursday said supporting the Congress in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation was not a political decision.
“We supported the Congress as we saw there was uncertainty in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation over the formation of the city civic board. Thus, we gave our support to the Congress,” Bhattacharya said.
Maintaining that the move as apolitical, he said: “We can’t support the Trinamool Congress as they are anti-development.”
“Trinamool Congress is a political party of anti-socials. So we decided to support Congress”, said Siliguri strongman Bhattacharya, who is the state’s urban development and municipal affairs minister.
The Congress Thursday formed the Siliguri civic board with the support of the ruling Left Front, leaving its 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 sit in the opposition in the municipal corporation after the mayoral election.
After 27 years, the Congress-Trinamool alliance managed to unseat the Left Front in the Siliguri civic body in the elections held last month. While the Congress won 15 seats, the Trinamool bagged one less, but got the support of one independent to equal its partner.
After days of tug-of-war between the two allies over the mayor’s post, the Congress won the election to the top post Thursday with its candidate Gayatri Dutta garnering 32 votes with the support of the 17-member Left Front. Trinamool’s Goutam Deb got only 15.
