Trinamul poll meeting

BIRESWAR BANERJEE AND AVIJIT SINHA,T,Siliguri, July 1: The Trinamul Congress today said it would contest in at least half of the seats in the elections to the GTA Sabha on July 29.

Over 200 Trinamul leaders from the Darjeeling hills met here today and decided to extend support to Independent candidates in the remaining seats. Trinamul hasn’t taken any decision on forging an alliance with other parties.

“It has been decided that we will field candidates in 22 to 25 seats. The constituencies would be chosen on the basis of feedback submitted by our leaders and workers from the hills. We will back the Independents in the rest of the seats,” said a Trinamul leader on condition of anonymity as the formal announcement has to be made by the state leadership.

Rajen Mukhia, an erstwhile GNLF leader from Kurseong who has joined Trinamul last month, said after the meeting that there were fears that the party wouldn’t field candidates in the polls.

District Trinamul leaders, who had asked their workers in the hills to prepare a report on the party’s prospects, today expressed satisfaction on the feedback.

“We have used a number of sources, including our leaders and workers, to learn about the present political situation in the hills,” said north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb.

“Trinamul is expanding its base in the hills and it is imperative to know what the people think about the party.”

“I will head for Calcutta this evening and apprise the state committee in detail of today’s meeting. The state committee will take the final decision,” said Deb, who is also the Darjeeling district Trinamul president.