Kolkata, Nov 12: A day after the Left Front’s Assembly bypoll humiliation, a veteran minister in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s cabinet echoed Mamata Banerjee’s demand for the Chief Minister’s resignation, followed by early elections.
In an extraordinary attack on his own government, Fisheries Minister Kiranmoy Nanda said, “After the results of the Lok Sabha elections and the bypolls, the government has no option but to quit. If the Left Front wants to be in office, it should seek a fresh mandate.”
Nanda has been a minister for the past 27 years. His Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) is a constituent of the Left Front, and has four MLAs in the House of 294. All DSP seats are in the restive East Midnapore district. Nanda represents Mugberia constituency, where the Trinamool Congress secured a lead of over 22,000 votes in the Lok Sabha elections this summer.
Nanda’s statement triggered speculation that he — and perhaps several others — have sensed the winds of change and begun to reach out to Mamata. About a fortnight ago, Nanda had taken on Bhattacharjee directly, objecting to the allotment of land to a private educational institution, allegedly in violation of wetland norms. His Department had moved court seeking an injunction on construction on the land.
There were unconfirmed reports today that Bhattacharjee had expressed a desire to step down, and the CPM was discussing bringing the Assembly elections forward.
Shyamal Chakraborty, CPM central committee member and CITU state president, denied all such reports. “There is no precedent of any party quitting the government following bad results in Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
On Nanda’s statement, Chakraborty said, “If Nanda feels that it would be immoral to stay in office, why is he not resigning?”
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said the CPM is concerned about the bypolls results, especially the defeats in Left strongholds of Belgachia East, Rajgunj and Kalchini. “We have to analyze the causes of the defeat,” Sen said, emerging from a meeting at the state CPM headquarters in Alimuddin Street.
Revolutionary Socialist Party leader and state PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami, who is himself frequently critical of the government, disapproved of Nanda’s remark.
“Nanda can ventilate his party’s stand,” Goswami said. “But he cannot make such demands before discussing it in the party and the Left Front.”
Forward Bloc leader Hafiz Alam Sairani said, “If the government decides to resign now, it will be suicidal for the Left Front. If Kiranmoy Nanda thinks that the government should quit, why he did not discuss the issue in the Left Front meeting?”
–Agencies