Jalpaiguri: May 5, 2010

Cong and Trinamul to clash in 11 seats

OUR CORRESPONDENT

The Congress candidates for the Jalpaiguri municipal polls on Thursday. (Biplab Basak)

Siliguri, April 29: The Congress today announced candidates for all the 25 wards of the Jalpaiguri municipality, further alienating the Trinamul Congress that stuck to its demand for 11 seats.

As Trinamul has also declared that its 11 candidates will file nominations tomorrow, there is no room for an alliance.

“The only option left for the two parties is to reach a consensus in the next few days and withdraw the nominations accordingly by May 6 to ensure that there is only one candidate of either Trinamul or the Congress in each seat,” said a political observer.

Jalpaiguri district Congress president Biswaranjan Sarkar, along with the chairman of the civic body, Mohan Bose, and other leaders, announced the candidates’ list this afternoon. While 23 candidates will be contesting on the Congress symbol, the rest will be Independents backed by the party. They will be fielded in Wards 11 and 13.

“We had earnestly tried to clinch an electoral pact with Trinamul, but they kept on insisting that 11 seats be kept aside for them,” said Sarkar. “We had little option other than announcing the names for all the seats. We will be fielding Independents in Wards 11 and 13 based on the feedback we had received from the residents. All our candidates will file their nominations tomorrow.”

Chandan Bhowmik, the district secretary-general of Trinamul, while announcing the candidates, including four women, said: “We want to make it clear that Trinamul has a support base and at the same time, it is interested in forging an alliance with the Congress. That is why we have refrained from fielding candidates in all the seats.”

The observer said the Congress would face troubles in the other 14 wards also, though Trinamul has not fielded candidates in those seats. “It is not that the Congress candidates in the remaining wards can be sure of getting votes from Trinamul supporters as there will be an underlying resentment if no alliance is formed,” he said.

Loyalty switch triggers clash

News From Telegraph

OUR CORRESPONDENT

A tyre set afire in protest by Parishad supporters in Malbazar. (Biplab Basak)

Alipurduar, May 2: Supporters of the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union and those of the Progressive Tea Workers Union clashed in a garden here this morning, allegedly after a section of workers attended a meeting called by the recently formed labour union of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.

Ten persons were injured, two of them seriously, in the violence.

Parishad members blocked NH31 near Malbazar for over four hours till around 12.30pm, demanding the arrest of those who assaulted their members in Tunbari tea garden, 115km from here. Police said trouble had been brewing since yesterday when the Tunbari workers attended a Parishad meeting. However, senior leaders from both sides had intervened and the matter was settled.

This morning, fresh trouble broke out at 7.30 when Citu members armed with lathis allegedly attacked a group of Parishad supporters. The Parishad filed an FIR against 15 Citu supporters accusing them of assault.

Tej Kumar Toppo, the general secretary of the Parishad, said the Tunbari workers were being exploited by sellers of country liquor.

“We cracked down on them. Most of the workers’ wages went into paying off liquor dues. We had stopped this to a large extent and yesterday a large number of garden workers attended a meeting organised by us at the Saili tea garden,” Toppo said. He avoided comments when asked if Citu, the CPM’s labour wing, was involved in the liquor racket.

Toppo alleged that Citu workers beat up the Parishad supporters after they returned from the meeting. Kismat Oraon and Parameswar Oraon have been referred to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital from the Malbazar subdivisional hospital.

“The Citu support base has been severely eroded and they are trying to terrorise the workers,” Toppo alleged.

Usha Rautia, a member of the Citu’s Jalpaiguri district committee, said it was the Parishad that was involved in the violence.

The SDPO of Malbazar, Nikita Phaning, said a force was patrolling the garden. “Ten people were injured.”

Police scan on garden union strength

- 14 arrested for Tunbari tea estate clash

OUR BUREAU News from Telegraph

May 3: Police are worried about the law and order situation in the Dooars brew belt with repeated clashes in recent times between the supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and the CPM or the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta, has instructed the Jalpaiguri superintendent of police to submit a report on the strength of trade unions in each tea garden in the Dooars to find out if there is the possibility of further breach of peace

The police woke up to the problem after yesterday’s clash between the members of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, formed by the Parishad recently, and those of the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, in Tunbari tea garden, 115km from Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri district. Ten people were injured in the clash that was followed by a four-hour road blockade by Parishad supporters, demanding the arrest of Citu workers.

The tribal outfit had blamed the CPM trade union for assaulting its supporters.

“The clashes are taking place because of the emergence of a new trade union. I have instructed the Jalpaiguri police chief to contact the garden managements and to get a picture of the actual situation so that we can act promptly and settle disputes through dialogues,” Tamta told The Telegraph.

The police officer, however, ruled out the possibility of deploying additional forces in the area. “I do not think extra forces are necessary; the unions should settle all differences through talks,” said Tamta.

Fourteen people were arrested in connection with yesterday’s violence. Danga Bek, the secretary of the Malbazar block committee of the Parishad, said if the arrests had not been made, a strike would have been called in all the tea gardens in the Dooars.

The Citu, however, denied its involvement in the violence. “I have not heard that our supporters are among the arrested people,” said Chanu Dey, a member of the Jalpaiguri district committee of the Citu.

The general secretary of the Parishad, Tezkumar Toppo, said: “We have told our trade union leaders in the Dooars that they should not go into any confrontation with rival unions and should remain peaceful even in the face of provocation. However, the administration has to see to it that no one foments violence in the area,” said Toppo.

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Trinamul, Congress gear up for poll fight

News From Telegraph

OUR BUREAU

April 30: The stage is set for a direct fight between the Congress and the Trinamul Congress in the elections to the three municipalities of Jalpaiguri, Englishbazar and Old Malda unless an anti-Left alliance is forged before May 7, the last date for the withdrawal of nominations.

The Congress today took out a rally in Jalpaiguri with 23 candidates and the two Independents it is backing, before they filed their nominations. Trinamul candidates also filed papers for 10 seats in the 25-ward civic body. The party will declare the name for one more seat later.

“The state leaders have endorsed our decision. If the Congress still does not allow us to fight from the 11 seats, we will put up our candidates in all the wards,” said Chandan Bhowmick, the secretary-general of the Jalpaiguri Trinamul Congress.

In Malda, Congress supporters took out a procession that ended at the district collectorate, where candidates for all the 18 seats of Old Malda municipality and 11 seats of 25-ward Englishbazar civic body submitted their nominations.

Slogans like “not a single seat should be spared for the Trinamul Congress in Barkatda’s Malda district” and “the CPM will cut a sorry figure” rent the air at the rally. Huge party flags, cutouts of the Congress’s hand symbol and posters gave the procession a festive look.

“The Congress had decided to spare two seats for Trinamul in Old Malda, though they are very weak there. But they demanded six seats,” said Malda block Congress leader Nabaranjan Singha.

He added that Trinamul’s demand for 15 seats in Englishbazar was “not acceptable” and only seven could be spared for the party.

Malda district Trinamul Congress president Goutam Chakraborty said their candidates would file nominations for all the wards of the two municipalities on May 3.

President of Malda Town Congress Bibhuti Ghosh said the candidates for the remaining 14 wards at the Englishbazar civic body would file their papers on May 3.

“All said and done, we still believe that good sense will prevail on the Trinamul Congress leadership and they will accept seven seats that we are ready to offer them in Englishbazar,” said Ghosh.

Both Ghosh and Singha, however, conceded that absence of a tie-up with Trinamul would shatter the chances of defeating the Left Front at Old Malda.

To days Weather

Wednesday Day/05/05/2010

	Hot with times of sun and clouds; a strong thunderstorm in spots this afternoon
High	36°C
RealFeel®:	43°C
View the Hour-By-Hour™ Forecast
Winds:	E at 4km/h
Wind Gusts:	9 km/h
Max UV Index:	Very High (9)
Thunderstorm Probability:	95%
Amount of Precipitation:	0.5mm
Amount of Rain:	0.5mm
Amount of Snow:	0.00cm
Hours of Precipitation:	1 Hrs
Hours of Rain:	1 Hrs
Hours of Daylight:	12.5 Hrs

Wednesday Night

	Partly cloudy and warm with a thunderstorm
Low:	25°C
RealFeel®:	29°C
View the Hour-By-Hour™ Forecast
Winds:	E at 4km/h
Wind Gusts:	11 km/h
Min UV Index:	N/A
Thunderstorm Probability:	95%
Amount of Precipitation:	0.3mm
Amount of Rain:	0.3mm
Amount Snow:	0.00cm
Hours of Precipitation:	1 Hrs
Hours of Rain:	1 Hrs
Hours of Dark	11.5 Hrs