Hung boards: Fractured verdict points to link-up

KOLKATA: Though Congress and Trinamool Congress fought the civic polls on their own, the people's verdict is clear they cannot oust the Left unless they join forces.
In North 24-Parganas, where 21 municipalities (the most of any district) went to the polls, as many as nine have returned a fractured verdict. Trinamool will need Congress support in Garulia and Titagarh. The same holds true for Congress in Basirhat and Baduria.In Titagarh, Congress and Trinamool will have to join hands to stop the Left from forming the board. In Taki, CPM has won eight wards, while Trinamool has six and Congress two. Similarly, in Kanchrapara and Bongaon, Trinamool is short by one seat to tie with the Left. The seat is held by Congress. In Barasat, too, Trinamool needs the support of one more seat. Two are held by independents and one by Congress.
Of the four municipalities in Hooghly where a clear mandate isn't available, Trinamool can form the board with the help of two independents in Serampore. In Rishra and Konnagar, the two parties have to come together. In Champdani, Trinamool will either need independents or the three Congress councillors.
Congress leader Abdul Mannan in Hooghly and Trinamool's Jyotipriya Mullick in North 24-Parganas agree that Left would have to be kept out of power in the hung municipalities. "There is no question of joining hands with CPM," said Mannan. Mullick said he will speak to Mamata. "She will take a call on this. We don't want the Left to be in power anywhere," he said.
To form the board in Suri, Trinamool needs 10 councillors, and it has nine. Congress has bagged six, while Left has three and one independent. Trinamool has the option of either seeking help from Congress or getting the independent on board. In Rampurhat, Trinamool has seven seats and Congress two. Three independents have won. In Bolpur, Trinamool has nine and Congress eight. The parties will have to mend bridges to come together in Bolpur. Reaching an understanding could be difficult, since district Congress president Sushobhan Banerjee has accused Trinamool of using money and muscle power.
Trinamool district chairman Ashish Banerjee is hopeful of ironing out differences with Congress. "In all three municipalities, we will form the board with the help of anti-Left parties. We firmly believe that other parties will come forward to support us against CPM," Banerjee said.
In Malda's English Bazar municipality, Congress and Trinamool were running the board with BJP as the third partner. This time, too, the picture is not much different, it seems. "Congress has emerged as the single largest party in the municipality. There is no other option for Trinamool but to offer support," said Malda district Congress leader Asit Bose.
Trinamool district president Gautam Chakraborty said that Mamata will take the final decision. "We have no problem," he said. The two parties came to loggerheads at English Bazar and Old Malda over seat-sharing, with Congress claiming that it had the strength to take on the Left singlehandedly. That hasn't happened.
Trinamool has made inroads into Bankura and Purulia. In Purulia municipality,
the party has bagged 11 and Congress 8. In Cooch Behar, Congress needs the support of the three Trinamool councillors. For all the three municipalities in West Midnapore Ramjibanpur, Kharagpur and Ghatal Congress and Trinamool need an alliance. The picture is similar in Kalna, Budge Budge and Joynagar-Mazilpur. In Joynagar, apart from Congress and Trinamool, only three other independents have won. In Nadia's Kalyani, Congress and Trinamool need to come together to form the board while it is a tie with Left Front at Taherpur.