Mukul Roy with the family members of slain Trinamul worker Premchand Bol at his home in Malda’s Gajole on Friday. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Nov. 18: Trinamul leader Mukul Roy today said his party enjoyed two-thirds majority in the Assembly, a not-too-subtle reminder on who calls the shots at a time his party and the Congress are locked in a turf battle.

The junior shipping minister did not name the Congress but hinted Mamata Banerjee could have won the election without its help.

“The Trinamul Congress has emerged as the strongest party in the state and that is causing bitter jealousy in some quarters. In the coming panchayat elections (2012), we will consolidate our position in Malda. No one should forget that we enjoy two-thirds majority,” Roy said hinting that Mamata could have formed the government without election partners Congress.

Roy today visited the house of Trinamul farmer Premchand Bol, who was hacked to death allegedly by Congress workers on Wednesday night, over the harvesting of paddy on disputed land. The two allies have been trading charges for sometime. Since yesterday, Trinamul has been alleging that its supporters are under attack in Congress strongholds, in an apparent attempt to blunt its ally’s campaign that its workers are being targeted.

Roy’s remarks triggered a reaction from the Congress. The party’s North Malda MP Mausam Noor, who held a rally in Calcutta against Mamata’s party today, warned Trinamul that it would be obliterated from the district.

“The manner in which Trinamul is ruling the state will only ensure that it will be wiped out from Malda at least. Trinamul has claimed that the man who was killed and the two injured in Wednesday’s clash were their workers. But they are actually CPM local committee members. This incident has made it clear whom Trinamul is backing,” she said.

The district secretary of the CPM, Jiban Moitra, said the slain Premchand “had no connections with our party”.

On Sunday, too, Mausam had warned Mamata at a rally against harbouring criminals who had switched over from the Congress.

A day before Congress MLA Isha Khan Chowdhury was attacked in Malda’s Shahbazpur. Although police said Isha had been caught in a crossfire between two groups of cattle smugglers, Congress had pointed a finger at Trinamul.

Roy told reporters here that ever since the Assembly elections, Trinamul workers were being killed.

“Fifty of our workers have been killed since the elections. Premchand Bol is one of them. His family members have said that the Congress was behind the murder,” Roy said.

He said the Mamata-led government had been working hard to restore peace in the hills and Jungle Mahal.

“There are some quarters that cannot tolerate our popularity,” Roy said.

Asked if he would blame the police for not being able to ensure law and order that had led to the death of 50 party workers, Roy avoided a reply. To Mausam’s allegations that Trinamul was sheltering “anti-socials who were with the CPM once”, Roy said: “What others say does not matter to our party.”

The central minister gave Rs 50,000 to Premchand’s wife and promised more help in the future on behalf of Trinamul.

Polytechnic college

Mukul Roy today inaugurated the construction of a polytechnic college in Gangarampur, where the CPM claimed the foundation stone had already been laid during the Left Front regime, reports our Balurghat correspondent.

“The district has been neglected a lot by the Left government. Even with two ministers from the district, the Left government failed to produce any kind of development in the district, which does not have industry. But our government has decided to set up 11 polytechnic colleges across the state” Roy told the rally at Kalitala. He said an ITI and an agricultural college would come up in the district.

The polytechnic college with around 180 seats will have civil, mechanical and electrical streams.

The CPM alleged that the foundation stone of the proposed college was laid in January by then minister Chakradhar Maikup.

“This is nothing but an eye-wash by Trinamul. The project was sanctioned much earlier by the Left Front government. Trinamul is just applying colour to it,” said former minister from Gangarampur Narayan Biswas.

Local MLA and Trinamul district president Biplab Mitra dismissed the allegations, saying that the earlier foundation laying programme had been done keeping an eye on elections. “We say what we can do. The construction will be finished most likely by the middle of the next year.”

The junior central minister also said Mamata Banerjee had first brought South Dinajpur under the ambit of the railways when she held the portfolio. “This helped upgrade the communication in the district,” he said, adding that a wagon factory would come up in Buniadpur which will promote employment in this region.

A reservation counter in Gangarampur will be built shortly.