CPM supporters celebrate their win in Burdwan town. There were no such scenes in Guskara, 20km away. Picture by Dipankar Chatterjee

Calcutta, July 2: The CPM had least expected a stab in Burdwan, which stood like a rock by its side when the Opposition had made inroads into many districts and won some during the rural polls.

The Trinamul Congress today won Guskara municipality, close to industries minister Nirupan Sen’s home ground, and won five seats in Burdwan town, part of his constituency.

Five years ago, the party had just one seat in the town.

Even the BJP managed to open its account in Guskara this time, bagging two seats.

Unable to quite fathom the reason for this “humiliation”, local CPM leaders gave a series of explanations, from “discontent over development” and land acquisition to “failure to deliver the goods”.

“But honestly, this result is totally unexpected,” admitted the party’s Burdwan district secretary, Amal Haldar.

“The Guskara result is especially surprising because Trinamul had lost in all three tiers of the panchayat (in nearby areas) in May,” Haldar said. “We are also searching for an explanation.’’

However, an erosion of the party’s support base was evident in the rural polls. The Opposition had bagged 70 gram panchayats in the district, a leap from 26 in 2003.

According to Haldar, the controversy over land acquisition or the “Nandigram effect” had no role to play in the defeat in Guskara. “Resentment at the under-performing municipality” took its toll.

“It is difficult to satisfy the people’s demands for development in small towns like Guskara, which don’t have proper infrastructure,” the CPM leader added.

The party is also not sure whether its decision to put up mostly new candidates has backfired.

Haldar said the “changed political scenario” in the state in the wake of the panchayat polls may have played a role in the reverses. “In 2003, the Opposition was hardly active and we dominated the poll scenario. This year, the victory of the Opposition in three zilla parishads had injected new life into Trinamul and the other parties.”

Trinamul, he added, always had a support base on the periphery of Burdwan town. The resentment over land acquisition in Goda, on the outskirts of the town, for a health city apparently added to the Opposition’s ammunition.

“Trinamul has won the ward in Burdwan municipality under which Goda falls. The grievances over land acquisition may have helped them,’’ Haldar said.

“We appreciate the landlosers’ grief but hope to convince them about the need for development when the health city comes up,” he added.