Congress loses last bastion in Bengal

The Congress, which is struggling to make its presence felt in the East and the Northeast, has been virtually left as a marginal force in West Bengal on Monday after losing Murshidabad, its last bastion in the state.

The party, which held on to the Berhampore Municipality since 1986, lost it after three decades as most of its elected councilors joined the Trinamool Congress.

Insiders said that the loss would be a personal blow to state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury since Berhampore falls under his home district of Murshidabad and has always been considered his stronghold. With 16 Congress councilors joining the Trinamool, the

Congress was forced to loosen its grip over Murshidabad, within days of similarly losing Malda Municipality last week, also in Chowdhury’s backyard.

With most of its councillors joining Trinamool, the Congress lost its majority and surrendered control over to the ruling party. While Chowdhury claimed “horse trading” and “intimidation” by the ruling party, Trinamool leaders said that Congress councilors joined them on ideological grounds, after realising that the Congress has lost the people’s confidence since it joined hands with the Left in the recent Assembly polls.

The Congress has been witnessing large-scale exodus over the last few weeks, particularly after the party lost the Murshidabad zilla parishad to Trinamool last week, where Congress members switched over to the Trinamool. Adding to these losses, Trinamool pulled a coup of sorts on Monday when veteran Congress leader Manas Bhuniya joined the Trinamool.

The senior leader, a long-time MLA from East Midnapore’s Sabang, raised questions over Chowdhury’s leadership before leaving the party. Sources within the Congress admitted that the last few weeks developments have put Chowdhury’s control over the state unit under a shadow of doubt. Chowdhury, who briefly served as junior Rail minister before 2014, has been fighting a difficult battle since  Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee put Suvendu Adhikari, an MP from East Midnapore, in charge of consolidating the Congress state president’s strongholds.