Congress supporters celebrate Chitra Chatterjee’s victory from Ward 8 in Jalpaiguri on Thursday. Picture by Biplab Basak

Siliguri, June 3: Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked for a report on the party’s performance in north Bengal, where the winds of change blowing from the south petered out and failed to impact any of the seven municipalities that went to polls this time.

“We admit that unlike the south Bengal districts and Calcutta, the results in the north were different and we could not bag any of the seven civic bodies, where elections were held,” said Gautam Deb, the chairperson of the north Bengal core committee of Trinamul.

“Our leaders in the districts have already started analysing the election results to find out whether there were any shortcomings on our side and what were the factors because of which we lagged behind. We have been asked to submit a report by the party leadership. I will file a comprehensive report with Mamata Banerjee as well as with Partha Chatterjee (secretary-general), who looks after north Bengal.”

At a media conference at her Kalighat residence in Calcutta today, Mamata, however, said she was “happy” with the results in the Mathabhanga and Cooch Behar municipalities. Her party has bagged six seats this time against two in 2005 in Mathabhanga, although the Left Front has retained its hold on the municipality. In Cooch Behar, the number of seats has gone up to three from one last time. “(But) we could not reach out to the people in north Bengal,” Mamata conceded.

This time, the number of Trinamul wards in the seven municipalities has risen from 11 to 20, a marginal increase compared to the rest of the state. Elections were held in 127 wards in these civic bodies. Trinamul sources also pointed out that of the 124 candidates fielded by the party in north Bengal, the success rate is 16 per cent. The success rate is nearly 35 per cent for the Congress and almost 50 per cent for the Left Front.

However, Trinamul is now a deciding factor in forming anti-Left boards in the two civic bodies of Cooch Behar and Englishbazar in Malda.

“There are certain factors which I cannot reveal before the media but some people with vested interests have worked against the party,” Deb alleged. “There were no lacunae in our campaign and leaders paid visits to turn the mandate in our favour. As of now, what we could perceive is that there was a tacit understanding between the Congress and the CPM and the use of enormous resources.”

“In Malda district, the charisma of A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury and his family still works, while in Cooch Behar we feel our performance is standard, if not excellent. What has surprised us is the result in Jalpaiguri and we are looking into it,” Deb said.

K.K. Kalyani, Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president, has accused the CPM and the Congress of using money to buy votes. “We have specific information that the parties had disbursed money in slum areas to swing voters in their favour,” he said. “There was also an unholy alliance between the two parties.”

Congress’s Raiganj MP and Mamata’s bete noire Deepa Das Munshi said the results had proved her party’s point.

“The results indicate that a strong Congress vote bank exists in the state and those who had scoffed at the party have been proved wrong,” Das Munshi said.

“Trinamul leaders can boast of their performance but they must understand that in south Bengal, we had surrendered several districts to them in 2001 as part of the alliance along with our vote bank. Trinamul had been nurturing those banks for the past 10 years and won on the basis of those votes. Had we stuck to triangular contests in the south like we did in north Bengal, the Congress would have won the seats there as well.”