ENS, Kolkata, Thu Jul 19 2012:In a sudden move, the Trinamool Congress, which is the lone party that has fielded its candidates against the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) nominees in the GTA polls, has decided not to contest the July 29 elections. The decision was taken late Tuesday evening, 12 days ahead of the polls.
The party has, however, decided not to officially announce the decision to withdraw from the polls for now. Sources have cited “strategic reasons” behind doing so.
Since the date for withdrawing the nomination is over, the party has decided not to campaign before the polls in the hills.
“Trinamool will probably not contest the GTA election. However, the discussions are still on. We will inform our candidates about the final decision of the party on July 23. This is a political decision and this is our party’s decision. We have discussed the issue elaborately in a high-level meeting yesterday,” said Gautam Deb, North Bengal Development minister, on Wednesday.
“We cannot withdraw our candidates officially as the last date for the withdrawal of nomination is already over. However, we can withdraw our candidates politically,” added Deb.
A senior Trinamool leader said the decision of the party was a way to avoid “political conflict with the GJM”. The other significant reason being poor performance of its candidates. “Considering the organisational strength of the Trinamool in the area, we had doubts over the number of votes we would get there. If there is a very low turnout of Trinamool voters, there are chances that the GJM will get an upperhand over the Trinamool leaders in the area. We do not want this,” the leader said.
“Moreover, if we contest, there are scopes of political conflict in the area. Some of our candidates have already received threats from the GJM for withdrawing their nominations. There are instances of attacks and intimidation also. We want to avoid this situation of conflict at present,” the Trinamool leader added.
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