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A communist never dies till he quits, Jyoti Basu says
"A communist never quits, till he dies."
These were the words, that the West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu used before he departed for Israel recently, reports IANS from Calcutta.
The talks of retirement that had been pondering in the air for sometime now, has disappeared with the statement that he at Calcutta Airport, before his departure. Basu will be out of the country for 20 days. He will spend quite a few days In Israel exploring business possibilities Then he will fly off to London to attend the wedding ceremony of Ids granddaughter Payel.
"Even though, this is purely a holiday trip. 1 decided to take along some prominent businessmen of the state to explore investment possibilities with the Israel government and some more in London," he said.
The questions however, were more on the recent elections to the Calcutta and Salt Lake Municipal Corporations. And Basu was quick to point out that the party had suffered because he was absent from the campaigning.
“1 could not participate properly during these elections as the doctor had advised me to take rest," said Basu. “I have a persistent backache that demanded rest. So I was forced to stay away from the Municipal Corporation eleotdons. HoweVer* thaUwill' iidt lie Him case in lhe next Assembly elections." he pointed out. "I've realised that the party has missed me. So 1 have decided to continue politics. The next
Assembly elections will see me more active.” he added.
Basu however, made It quite clear that he was willing to accept the Congress as an alliance to keep out the Trlnamul Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party in the Calcutta Corporation. "We arc fighting together as an alliance In a number of other states. As far as my information goes, the CPIM and the Congress are working together In Andhra Pradesh. So why can t we do it here in West Bengal? One has to deckle now. As far as I am concerned. such an alliance, should be our first priority." he said before his departure.
Meanwhile, the Trlnamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee said that she did not want to take the help of the Congress in forming the Municipal Board in Calcutta. "If any Congress candidate wants to leave the party and come over and join us. then he is most welcome." Mamata said. "However. I will not go into an alliance with the party itself. To do so, 1 would have to severe ties with the BJP which is not possible. They have always stood by me."
On the other hand the Congress state unit president. A B A Gani Khan Choudhury stated that the party may ask its elected members to stay 1 away from the Calcutta Municipal Corporation the day the Municipal Board formed. "We may abstain from voting and may not support any party.” Choudhury said adding "The final decision will be
taken on this matter by the high command In Delhi."
Choudhury, however made It clear that Congress will not tolerate any defection. "The anti-defection bill is applicable even In the Corporation. So we will not hesitate to employ it. if the Trlnamul Congress lures any of our candidates into Joining them.
The entire picture regarding the formation of the new board, remains hazy because of these new developments. The Trlnamul Congress which had been claiming that they will form the Board, because eight Congress elected councillors will Join them shortly has now gone muni on the issue.
Two rebel candidates of the Trlnamul candidates who contested the elections and have won. have been taken back into the party. This has increased the strength of the alliance to 64 (Trlnamul Congress 57. BJP 4. Trlnamul supported independent candidate 1 and rebel Trlnamul Congress candidate 2). On the other hand, the Left Front has a total of 62 councillors (Left Front 60. Left Front supported independent candidate 2). Against this backdrop the Congress has only 14 councillors.
One person also won as a rebel Congress candidate from ward number 109. So even if he Joins the Trlnamul the strength of the TMC-BJP alliance will still be only 65. six short of the majority mark.
There is a feeling in the air, that ultimately, the Left may have the last laugh with the help of the Congress.