Defection in Murshidabad Zila Parishad: Adhir Chowdhury calls for joint control of Cong bastion

Adhir also said there would be a joint movement against District Magistrate Y Ratnakar Rao for allegedly acting as a TMC agent and trying to lure as well as threaten members of other parties to join the ruling party. “They (Opposition party members) are enticed and if they don’t comply, they are threatened that they will be booked for the possession of heroin. It has been decided jointly by members of the Congress and CPM to oppose this,” the Congress chief said.

After several Murshidabad zila parishad members recently defected to the TMC taking its total number of members to 29, senior party leader and state Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari had claimed that within a few days, Mamata’s party would achieve the magic figure of 35 and take control of the entire zila parishad.

On Tuesday, Adhir alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was trying to nullify the Opposition parties in the state.

Talking to The Indian Express, he said the standard of politics has touched rock bottom under the present disposition. “At the moment, to do politics you need an AK-47 and loads of cash with you. This is the culture that the TMC has begun here, trying to bulldoze all Opposition parties in any which way. This can’t go on. We will build resistance against this misrule and political poaching,” the Congress leader said.

Addressing mediapersons, Congress sabhadhipati of Murshidabad zila parishad Shiladitya Halder claimed that of the total 69 members of the zila parishad, they had the support of at least 46 of them. Of these, 26 leaders from Congress, 13 from CPM and two from RSP had attended Adhir’s meeting.

Asked about the five CPM members who were absent in the meeting, Halder said, “They could not be present owing to several reasons, but they have said that their support was with the joint strength of Congress and CPM.”
Defection ‘rumours’

Meanwhile, three Congress MLAs — – Rabiul Alam Chowdhury from Rejinagar, Akhruzzaman from Raghunathganj and Mainul Haque from Farakka constituencies — were also reportedly missing from Adhir’s meeting, giving rise to speculation of their defection to the TMC.

A senior Trinamool leader added fuel to the speculation and said the three leaders in question had been approached to join the ruling party. “They have been contacted by the TMC district leadership and given several offers. Chances are that they might soon defect to the TMC,” the leader added.

He also said that several Congress leaders have realised that the once seemingly impregnable district of Murshidabad was being slowly taken over by the TMC and will try “to make hay while the sun shone”.
The three Congress MLAs also admitted that they had been made offers to defect to TMC but maintained that they were absent from the meeting owing to personal reasons.

“Yes, there had been several calls on behalf of TMC leaders who wanted me to sit with the district leadership and strike out a deal, but I did not meet them. I could not attend the party meeting on Tuesday because I was in Kolkata for some medical check-up at the Nightingale Hospital. People have been spreading rumours that I am about to join the TMC. There is not an ounce of truth in it,” Rabiul told The Indian Express.

Haque, too, justified his absence by claiming that he was out of town on medical reasons. “I was in Delhi for medical treatment and I had kept the party state president informed about it,” he said.

Akhruzzaman also admitted that he had been made an offer to defect to the TMC. “This culture of buying elected representatives of the party was prevalent in Bihar and UP. The TMC has brought the practice in Bengal as well. People who had been elected three months ago by defeating the TMC are being asked to join it now by being offered money and power. There had been some who fell for those baits but from what I have heard, they are already repenting it,” he told The Indian Express.

Asked why he was not present in the meeting, he said that he was preoccupied with some other business.