Jan. 20: The Trinamul Chhatra Parishad today won student union elections in two of 15 Murshidabad colleges that went to polls, opening its account in educational institutions in the Congress bastion.
Of the 15 colleges, the Congress’s Chhatra Parishad was at the helm in 12 and the CPM’s SFI in three. The TMCP defeated both unions in one college each.
In Lalbagh Centenary College, which falls in the Murshidabad Assembly constituency represented by Congress MLA Shaoni Singha Roy, the TMCP won all 39 seats unopposed as the Chhatra Parishad and the SFI could not put up candidates because of alleged threats by Trinamul. The Congress union had won the polls last time.
In Panchthupi Haripada Gouribala College near Barwan, the TMCP won 10 of the 13 seats, trumping the SFI that drew a blank. The Chhatra Parishad won the remaining three seats.
“Our victory in the two colleges is not a mean feat. The results reflect the party’s growing organisational clout in Adhir Chowdhury’s bastion,” said Baiswanar Chatterjee, the chairman of the advisory committee that oversees the TMCP.
Chatterjee said in Calcutta that Trinamul would highlight the victory at a rally in Murshidabad tomorrow.
Last week, the TMCP won in 27 of 28 Calcutta University-affiliated colleges. The union also won the elections in Calcutta University’s six campuses.
The Chhatra Parishad and the SFI in Murshidabad accused the TMCP of using terror tactics to win the elections in the two colleges.
“Trinamul goons beat up our supporters and prevented them from filing nominations. Trinamul has let loose a reign of terror in the district in connivance with police,” said Murshidabad Congress chief and MLA Abu Hena.
SFI state president Madhuja Sen Roy echoed Hena. “TMCP members wrested control of Panchthupi Haripada Gouribala College by resorting to terror,” she alleged.
Anubrata threat
Birbhum Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal today threatened to attack the house of the Congress MLA from Burdwan’s Katwa, Rabindranath Chatterjee, if Trinamul workers were targeted during the elections in Katwa College on January 28.
