More power to TMC as several representatives join party

Kolkata: As many as 56 public representatives from Jhargram district joined the Trinamool Congress on Saturday among whom 40 had won the Panchayat elections with BJP's ticket. The rest had won contesting as Independent candidates. The joining of the representatives was announced by party secretary general Partha Chatterjee from the dais of the Martyr's Day programme of the party at Esplanade.

It may be mentioned that all these representatives have won seats in the Gram Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis in the Panchayat polls held in May. The TMC had lost 22 Gram Panchayats and two Panchayat Samitis to the BJP in Jhargram.

Chatterjee visited Jhargram in June and prepared a report card of the party's performance after holding a meeting with the district-level leaders.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee while addressing the extended core committee meeting of the party on June 21 had said that she herself will supervise the party's work at Jhargram in Jangalmahal.

The TMC earlier in July had changed Sabhapatis of

five out of eight blocks in the district that included those of Jamboni, Sankrail, Lalgarh, Belpahari and Jhargram Gramin.

In a major setback to the Congress, four of its MLAs from Malda and Murshidabad joined the TMC which includes the likes of Samar Mukherjee, Abu Taher Khan, Sabina Yasmin and Akhruzzaman.

Mukherjee is an MLA from Ratua Assembly constituency in Malda, Taher Khan is an MLA from Nowda in Murshidabad, Yasmin is from Mothabari constituency in Malda while Akhruzzaman is from Raghunathganj in Murshidabad. Congress Councillor of Ward 140 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Abu Mohammad Tarik also joined the TMC.

Yasmin said: "It is a bit late but we understood that to develop the district of Malda and the state, we need to hold CM Mamata Banerjee's hand. This is why we are joining the TMC today."

"Nowadays, the BJP is spreading communalism across the nation. We thought TMC is the only one to stop them in Bengal," Akhruzzaman said.

Moinul Hassan of (CPI-M), Mizoram advocate-general Biswajit Deb and Narendra Nath Tiwari, general secretary of Malda Congress were among the others who joined. Expelled CPI(M) leader Ritabrata Banerjee who has recently been appointed as the Chairman of the newly-constituted Tribal Development Commission was seen on stage.

Chandan Mitra, a former BJP MP, was also seen on the podium.