Mohit Sengupta (left) and other Congress councillors at the Raiganj municipality during the swearing-in on Friday. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, July 22: The Trinamul Congress today said it would sit in the Opposition in Raiganj municipality, alleging that the Congress’s selection of the vice-chairperson from among its own candidates was just another manifestation of Deepa Das Munshi’s anti-alliance policy.

After the Congress chairperson and his deputy were sworn in today, Trinamul councillors declared that they would not take part in the running of the board.

Trinamul also claimed that under instructions from their all-India general secretary Mukul Roy, the party would not enter into any form of alliance with the Congress in future elections in North Dinajpur.

The two anti-Left parties had come to an understanding before the July 10 municipal elections. The Congress fielded 17 and Trinamul eight candidates in the 25 wards that make up the municipality.

When the results were declared on July 12, the Congress had won in all their wards and Trinamul in five.

Trinamul leaders, who had declared that the party was not interested in joining the civic board before the results were declared, went back on its stand and demanded the post of vice-chairperson. The demand was rejected outright by the district Congress that said it had already selected the vice-chairperson from among its councillors.

Today, however, there was some suspense before the swearing-in at 11am as the nameplate of the vice-chairperson, on the door of the chamber, had been covered with a blank paper. The nameplate of the chairperson, Mohit Sengupta, who once again assumed office, was intact.

This had raised the hopes of Trinamul councillors that the Congress would give the vice-chairperson’s post to them. Soon deputy magistrate Debashis Biswas began administering the oath of office and secrecy to the councillors one by one. Councillor Kishor Goswami of the Congress began the process of selecting the chairperson and the rest of the board members.

Raiganj MLA Mohit Sengupta was selected chairperson unopposed. However, when Sengupta proposed the name of Ranoj Kumar Das as his deputy, Trinamul hope deflated.

After Das resumed in his old post and both he and Sengupta walked into their chambers, Trinamul councillors left the municipal building.

The district working president of Trinamul, Tilak Chowdhury, accused Sengupta, who is also the district president of the party, of carrying on with the anti-alliance stand that Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi had taken during the Assembly polls. Deepa, who is known to be a Mamata baiter, had during the Assembly elections fielded dummy candidates in three seats in the district against Trinamul or alliance nominees. The Congress leadership had hauled up Deepa for flouting alliance norms and Trinamul had made it clear during the civic polls that the MP should be kept out of the negotiations for seats. The Congress had obliged. Calls to Deepa went unanswered.

“According to any alliance politics, the majority party gets the top post followed by the party that comes second. This was followed in Siliguri and Englishbazar (Malda) municipalities. And, we did nothing wrong in wanting the vice-chairperson’s post. We have consulted Mukul Roy and told him everything and he has advised us to sit in the Opposition. Under instructions from Mukul Roy, our party will not enter into any alliance with the Congress in any future elections,” Chowdhury said.

Sengupta said after the swearing-in that Trinamul at the very beginning of the electoral process had declared that it had no claim to any post in the new civic board. “They suddenly sent us a letter demanding the post of the vice-chairperson and there is no question of discussing the issue… We are going to offer them one post in the chairperson-in-council,” said Sengupta.

The chairman of the regional core committee of Trinamul and minister Gautam Deb said the post of the vice chairman should have been given to his party in Raiganj as a gesture towards the alliance.

Asked if initiatives would be taken at a higher level to resolve the issue like it was done for the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Deb said: “The issue would be discussed with other party leaders and then we can comment. However, we would like to say despite regular interaction with Mohit (Sengupta), this sudden change was an gesture unbecoming of them.”

The two allies had contested the SMC polls jointly to oust the Left after 28 years, but Trinamul fell out with Congress when the latter refused to part with the posts of mayor and chairperson. The issue was resolved last month when Trinamul was given the posts of deputy mayor and four members mayor-in-council.