Buddha meet

Calcutta, May 14: Mamata Banerjee today said the Left Front government would have to leave office on its own in the event of a landslide for her in the civic polls and she need not press the Centre for its dismissal.

At a media conference yesterday, the Trinamul Congress chief had hinted that she would renew her political contact with the Congress high command after the municipal polls to wangle its support for her call to advance the Bengal elections.

Today, she justified her forecast of a possible Octob- er-November election, saying: “CPM leaders might call me ignorant about the Constitution. But I’m confident that the Assembly elections will be held in October-November. For the advancement of the polls, I’m not demanding the imposition of Article 356 (of the Constitution). The CPM-led government will have to go on its own… if we get an overwhelming majority in Calcutta and the 80 other civic bodies going to the polls (on May 30).”

She said her party’s victory in successive elections, including last year’s parliamentary polls, had proved that the electorate “want an immediate end to the CPM’s terror”.

“Instead of governing the state with a human face, the CPM has let loose a reign of terror…. People now want an immediate end to this terror,” she told a rally at Hazra.

Asked if the Congress would back Mamata’s demand for early Assembly polls, its general secretary in charge of Bengal, K. Keshava Rao, parried the question. “The high command will take a decision on such crucial matters.”

During her hour-long campaign speech, the Trinamul chief again attacked the Congress without naming it for indirectly helping the CPM.

“The civic polls this time are being fought between the CPM and Trinamul. So, even a single vote against me would strengthen the Marxists. I request you not to vote for those in the fray to help the CPM,” she said.

The Congress has fielded candidates in 108 of the city’s 141 wards. Trinamul is contesting 140.

“Don’t trust those who are likely to ride the CPM’s boat to safety when they are about to drown. This time, the CPM is sure to drown. So, don’t vote for the CPM or its friends. I have information that that the CPM is desperate to manage these people with the sole objective of jeopardising Trinamul’s poll prospects.”

Mamata and the Congress have been gunning for each other without taking names since their attempts at an alliance for the civic polls failed.