District CPM leaders, including Asok Bhattacharya (second from right), at the news conference on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, May 25: The rout in the parliamentary polls that revealed the virtual obliteration of the party’s support base in the upper reaches of Darjeeling district has prompted the CPM to focus on the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad instead of contesting the municipality elections in the hills.

“We have hardly noticed any change in the situation in the hills after the Lok Sabha polls and so will not participate in the elections there. It is not secure for us to field candidates or start political activities in the hills,” said state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya at a news conference held at Anil Biswas Bhawan, the party office here today. “The same holds true for all political parties, save the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the BJP.”

The CPM decision was formally spelt out after the state committee meeting in Calcutta yesterday. The fight at the mahakuma parishad will be tough this time. A division of votes is expected because of a Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance and the decision by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and Morcha to field candidates in all the three tiers of the mahakuma parishad.

The Left party, desperately seeking the support of tribals who form a substantial portion of the vote bank as most of the 22 panchayats of the Mahakuma Parishad consist of tea estates, had for company today the leaders of the Citu-affiliated Darjeeling District Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union. Ananda Pathak, the secretary of the union, demanded immediate intervention of the government to decide on the land rights issue. Workers who have been living for generation in tea gardens do not have rights over the land. “We demand that a high-level committee should be formed to look into the issue and make necessary recommendations. Trade unions and other bodies can put in their opinions before the committee,” Pathak said.

The other demands of the union include electrification and water supply in each garden, declaring workers of the closed and ailing tea estates as people of BPL category and distributing rice at Rs 2 a kilo to them. Also on the wish-list were renovation of the quarters and setting up more educational institutions.

“We have discussed these issues with the chief minister and finance minister yesterday,” the minister said. “They have consented to the issues in principle and the chief secretary will be here in the first week of June to meet trade unions and discuss the land rights issue.”