Left’s Siliguri model suffers jolt; Bhunia’s brother joins TMC

At a function held in Siliguri, TMC ministers Goutam Deb and Aroop Biswas handed over the party flag to Singh. After his joining, Singh said the development schemes of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had attracted people from all walks of life and had also touched the hearts of the residents of Siliguri.

In another related news, Trinamool Congress on Thursday took over many gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and even made a dent in the Zilla Parishad of West Midnapore after its members including the district Congress president Bikas Ranjan Bhunia joined the party. Bikas is the younger brother of Congress MLA and the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Manas Bhunia.

A function was held at Trinamool Bhavan where the party’s MP Abhishek Banerjee handed over the party flags to them. Veteran party leader Mukul Roy was also present. The Forward Bloc Councillor of ward 77 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Shamima Rehan Khan also joined Trinamool.

Banerjee said of the 39 Panchayat Samitis in West Midnapore, Trinamool now, had control over 37 of them while two are under the Left Front. In 13 Gram Panchayats, 12 are under Trinamool while one is under the CPI(M). In Zilla Parishad, of the three members from Sabang, two are from Trinamool Congress while one is under CPI(M).

On Thursday, as many as 90 Gram Panchayat members, 24 Panchayat Samiti members and 13 members of the Anchal Committee joined Trinamool.