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Journalism of Courage
CALCUTTA, FEB 9: Buckling under pressure from West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and the party high command, the Pradesh Congress Committee called off its bandh slated for February 12.
The bandh was destined to end in a whimper with State Chief Minister persuading the top PCC leadership to withdraw the call. However, justifying the decision, working president of the Pradesh Congress and former Union minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi told reporters here this afternoon, “Our party did not want to become a victim of the CPI (M)’s gameplan during the President’s visit and we would have been blamed for it.” (The President is scheduled to visit the city on February 12.)
When told that “the people would think the PCC had to buckle under the pressure from Jyoti Basu and the party high command,” he said: “We didn’t get any direction from New Delhi. Calling a bandh and its withdrawal were entirely our decisions,” he added.
“Neither the party high command nor the CPI (M) leadership have influenced our decision,” Dasmunshi told reporters, adding, “Nor will we blame our PCC chief A B A Gani Khan Chowdhury as it’s a collective decision.”
Interestingly, yesterday’s bandh, called by the Congress’ trade union wing INTUC, caused an embarrassment to the party, supported as it was by the Left Front. Calling the current bandh off has only deepened the crisis within the PCC.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today dismissed the PCC as the “B-team of the CPI (M), which,” she said, “had to listen to its local boss, Jyoti Basu.”
