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Bengal civic polls on Sunday

As West Bengal's 79 municipalities go to the polls Sunday, a grim battle is on the cards between a fledgling Trinamul Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Left Front, headed by CPI-M leader and Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

While the Trinamul Congress, capitalising on the people's growing anti-establishment mood against the 23-year Marxist rule, finds it an opportune moment to shake the red citadel, for the ruling front the battle is to prove its presence among the common people.

The elections this time assume extra significance as an anti-Left combination could come into being with the state Congress sitting on the fence over whether to support the Trinamul Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party combine to complete the polarisation.

The state Congress is keen to forge a grand alliance with Banerjee's party for its survival, despite the high command's strong reservations against ties with a party allying with the BJP.

Although the concept of a grand alliance has not yet materialised because of compulsions at the national level, anti-Left sentiments are so pronounced among the rank and file of Congress and Trinamul that both are reported to have agreed to unofficial adjustments in many places.

The situation in the state 24 hours before elections is tense as internecine clashes between supporters of the CPI-M and the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine at Keshpur in Midnapore district where more than 150 people were killed, 43,000 injured and 2,500 houses burnt in two years.

With allegations and counter-allegations flying thick and fast from the CPI-M and Trinamul Congress, the issue has no doubt drawn the electorate's attention.

With the Left Front finding its base gradually eroded in successive municipal elections, much will depend on its ability to gather strength to repulse the growing opposition onslaught and stem the rot before more damage is done in the assembly elections.

Banking more on the rural votebank it is no doubt a tough battle for the Marxists to hold ground in their biggest fort, while it is a nothing-to-lose situation for the Opposition.

UNI

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