West Bengal LF appeals to Governor to solve panchayat poll impasse

Accusing ruling Trinamool Congress of hatching a conspiracy to delay panchayat polls, the Opposition Left Front today met Governor M K Narayanan seeking his intervention to end the stand off between West Bengal government and State Election Commission over the elections.

"We met the Governor and appealed to him to intervene and start a conciliatory approach in solving the problem because we want panchayat elections to be held on time," Left Front chairman Biman Bose told reporters after the meeting.

Bose accused the Trinamool Congress of hatching the  pre-planned conspiracy and forcing the SEC to look for legal recourse and claimed that all ministers were not aware of it.
Only Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy were party to it, he said.

"Mukherjee was given the duty of creating confusion by triggering a tiff with the SEC. Roy was given the duty of defending the ruling party's image in the public," Bose alleged, adding that the Trinamool is trying to buy time by delaying the process of the grass root polls.

"The government doesn't have any achievements to showcase. And, the Trinamool is plagued by infighting and factional feud, so it is trying to buy time before the panchayat polls to tackle those problems," he said.

Bose claimed that after the end of present rural bodies' tenure, they will stop getting funds for development schemes from the Centre.

Asked whether the LF will explore legal options over the stalemate, Bose said, "We have not discussed the matter."  The state government and the SEC have locked horns over the schedule of the polls.

While the state government has announced that the elections will be held in two phases under supervision of the state police, the SEC has proposed that the polls be held in three phases under supervision of central forces.