Raiganj, Dec. 29: With Dalkhola all set to become a municipality in two days, political parties are trying to outflank each other in their quest to “take the credit” for it for the town’s new-found status.

The ruling CPM has already scored the jump on others in the race for grabbing the “civic honour”.

CPM district secretariat member Subrata Mukherjee, a former MP, printed and passed around a handbill on behalf of the party’s Dalkhola committee. “After prolonged movement by the CPM, the state government has decide to elevate Dalkhola town to the status of a municipality. We congratulate the residents for this,” it said.

This handbill has created quite a stir in political circles, with the Congress, BJP and Trinamul taking “strong exception” to the CPM’s move.

“The CPM is trying to take full credit for the work and the district administration is backing it in its effort,” Congress district secretary Shyamal Kanti Bagol said. “Its leaders have simply gone mad.”

“This is unfair. Instead of giving the administration due credit, a political party is claiming it to be its new- year gift to the residents of Dalkhola. The CPM is doing this to shore up support for the upcoming municipal elections,” he added.

Mukherjee said that his party would boycott the function to declare Dalkhola’s new civic status slated for Wedenesday.

Utpalendu Sarkar, district president of the BJP, said the party would launch an agitation if the administration allowed the CPM to “control” the ad hoc municipal committee.

The state government decided to make Dalkhola—wrested from Bihar in 1959— a municipality through a formal notification in the North Dinajpur district headquarters.

After being included in North Dinajpur, Dalkhola town’s importance grew rapidly. Flanked by Bihar and West Bengal, and with the NH-34 cutting through the town, it has turned into an important business centre.