Rebellion threat in Red Arambag

ARAMBAG: Chinks have started appearing in Hooghly CPM's armour even as a dozen civic bodies in the district prepare to go to the polls. On Saturday, Gopal Koch, sitting chairman of Arambag Municipality, defied a party diktat and said he would fight the elections as an independent if CPM refused him a ticket.
On Friday, CPM's Hooghly district committee had announced at Chinsurah that sitting chairpersons of five civic bodies would not be allowed to fight elections this time.Apart from Koch, the list included Sujit Guha of Baidyabati, Ashish Rana of Tarakeswar, Samir Banerjee of Konnagar and Dilip Sarkar of Rishra.
The announcement led to a backlash in Arambag on Saturday. A large number of CPM supporters laid siege to the municipality building, demanding that Koch be allowed to file his nomination. The chairman finally brought the situation under control.
In the mean time, CPM's Arambag zonal committee got in touch with the state secretariat, which stuck to its stand of not allowing chairmen who have defaulted in submitting accounts, to contest the elections. This was reported to be in accordance to Section 234 of the Election Manual, they pointed out. Koch left the meeting in a huff.
"The zonal committees are in charge of the election process. The district and state committees supervise the work of the zonal committees. If we defaulted in the submission of accounts, the party is to blame. Why weren't we alerted in time that such a problem will occur? We are being made scapegoats. I will file my nomination and ask for the party's symbol. If the party refuses, I shall contest as an independent," Koch, who has headed Arambag Municipality since 1986, said later.
Benoy Dutta, CPM district secretariat member and Arambag MLA, warned that the party would not be responsible for any disciplinary action against Koch. "There is strict discipline within the party. We informed him of the state secretariat's decision. If Koch violates it, only he will be responsible," he said.
CPM may have suffered poll reverses elsewhere in the district but Arambag is considered a red bastion where Trinamool has not gained a toehold. The district CPM is yet to finalise the list of candidates for the civic bodies of Hooghly-Chinsurah and Chandernagore. Party sources admitted that differences have cropped up regarding the list of candidates for Tarakeswar, Uttarpara-Kotrung, Konnagar and Rishra.