Adhir magic fails to stop Congress exodus

Behrampore: AdhirChowdhury may have trounced the MamataBanerjee brigade and steered Congress home in the recently concluded assembly bypolls in Rejinagar, but the national party's crisis manager has failed to arrest the switching of loyalties to Trinamool Congress in Murshidabad. On Saturday, nine Congress councillors of the Dhulian Municipality toed the HumayunKabir line and joined the ruling party.If sources are to be believed, the Murshidabad Municipality may throw up more surprises soon.
Former chairman of the Dhulian Muncipality Mehboob Alam led the nine-man brigade and joined Trinamool, party's all-India general secretary Mukul Roy announced on Saturday. Roy didn't name the Murshidabad Municipality, but hinted that some more surprises were in store.
The crossing of floors will add to the uncertainty that the municipality has been passing through since January 7, 2013. There has been a sea change in the composition of the municipal board from the one that emerged out of the municipal elections in 2010 with eight CPM councillors, two from the Forward Bloc and nine from the Congress. Later, the two Forward Bloc councillors - Tushar Kanti Sinha and Basumati Singha - shifted to Congress, thus pushing its tally to 11. Months later, they returned to the Left camp, reversing the tally to its original position. Left councillors seized the opportunity to move a no-confidence motion against the Congress chairman on January 7. There is no chairman since then. The problem became more complex with Congress councillors now switching to Trinamool.
A similar swtitch-over is waiting to take place in the Murshidabad Municipality, which has 17 Congress councillors. According to Trinamool insiders, some may shift to the Trinamool camp soon. With panchayat election months away, Murshidabad politics is all set for a pitched battle with the Trinamool preparing to avenge Kabir's defeat by creating fissures in Murshidabad Congress.
Union minister of state for railways Adhir Chowdhury told TOI from Delhi: "Mamata Banerjee is into a politics of vengeance. She wants to send out a message to Congress workers in Murshidabad that she will stand by the Congressmen who join Trinamool, no matter they win or lose the elections. It is a move to break the Congress." Murshidabad district Congress party spokesperson Asok Das added: "Trinamool is into horse trading. It is trying to buy Congressmen and break the party."