TMC claims to regain control of Kancharapara and Halishahar municipalities

Kolkata, 13 July (HS); After the return of majority of Councillors of Kanchrapara and Halishahar Municipalities in North 24 Parganas district to the party fold,the ruling Trinamool Congress today regained the control of these two civic bodies from BJP after a gap of nearly a month. Informing this TMC sources told here this evening that regaining the control of these two important municipalities in the district from BJP was a prestige issue of the party,

‘All these councillors were forced to resign, leave the party and extend their support to BJP allegedly under duress’, they said  According to North 24 Parganas District TMC President and state Food and Civil Supply minister Jyotipriyo Mallick ,these Councillors have now realized their mistakes and overcoming the fear for life came back to their original party . Welcoming a total of 14 Councillors of Kanchrapara municipality who had left  the party and joined BJP after the TMC’s poll debacle at Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, the minister,in presence of another senior party leader Avishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, said with their return, TMC now regained the support of 19 of the total 24 Councillors of Kancharapara municipality and took back its administrative control.

Similarly, he said,at Halishahar municipality all 12 of the 17 TMC Councillors who left to join BJP,  had now come back to help the party to regain the administrative control . Of the total 24 Councillors at Halishahar, TMC now enjoyed the backing of 17 of them to regain the control of its administration, Mallick said while handing over party flags to the returnees side by side with Banerjee.

Though a section a political observers here consider such a ‘Ghar Wapsi’ en masse by TMC Councillors in both the important municipalities in the district would deal a major blow to BJP in terms of its strength in the district,both BJP MP from Barrackpore Arjun Singh and senior party leader Mukul Roy have refused to pay any importance in such a new political development.

‘Just wait and watch a few more days to see what will happen  in both the municipalities’, Singh said while refusing to take it as his personal defeat in the midst of a continuous political struggle to regain control in highly sensitive North 24 Parganas district between BJP and TMC.