No hope for total LF unity in Cooch Behar,

 

COOCH BEHAR, April 21: Even after the seventh round of bipartite talks the CPI-M and the Forward Bloc failed to reach to an amicable settlement of seat sharing in two Zilla Parishad seats – Bhetaguri and Chandamari. The leaders of the CPI-M and the Forward Bloc sat across the table today to seek a way out from the tangle but failed to yield any result. The situation is still at the stage as it was in the previous meets.

 

District CPI-M secretary and district Left Front convenor Mr Chandi Pal said the block level leaders of both the parties will discuss tomorrow about maintaining of Left Front unity in the panchayat polls. When asked about the difference with the FB over two ZP seats Mr Pal said a 'friendly fight' may take place for the Bhetaguri seat but the FB has no right to claim the Chandamari seat because the CPI-M candidate won this seat in the previous election. "The Forward Bloc wants us to give them the Chandamari seat instead of theirs Choudhurihat seat. We cannot agree with this proposal", he said.

 

On the otherhand, the district Forward Bloc secretary Mr Udayan Guha said the CPI-M's claim over the Bhetaguri seat is unjustified. Replying a question on 'friendly fight' in the two ZP seats Mr Guha said that when a fight starts that never stays limited as 'friendly'. It may take the shape, as a fight should. He also mentioned that they identified a few independent candidates as the CPI-M's and asked the CPI-M to take action against those ghost candidates. He made it clear that they will wait till 25 April for the CPI-M to take measure against the shadow candidates and then the Forward Bloc will decide its future plans.

 

A meeting of the district Left Front was also held on today afternoon. In the meeting it was decided that the Left Front partners would fight jointly against the opposition parties in the 27 Zilla Parishad seats following Left Front guideline, said Mr Chandi Pal. In the remaining two ZP seats efforts will continue to minimise the differences. In the meeting the RSP agreed to withdraw its three ZP candidates in the greater interest of Left Front unity, Mr Pal said. The LF partners also agreed to work to maintain LF unity during the election process, the district LF convenor claimed. []

 

Shahid Divas

 

COOCH BEHAR, April 21: Leaving their differences, the CPI-M, the Forward Bloc, the SUCI and other leftist parties and organisations paid floral homage at the Martyrs' Column at Shahid Baag on the south bank of Sagardighi today. This day is observed as Shadid Divas in Cooch Behar to pay respect to the five martyrs who were killed in police firing during the historic food movement on 21 April in 1952. []

 

PHOTO : The martyrs' column at Shahid Baag in Cooch Behar on Monday. – DEBASHIS BHAUMIK.