5 Councillors Defect to Trinamool, Congress Loses Control of Jhalda Municipality

In the presence of Sushanta Mahato, the Baghmundi MLA, two Independent councilors, including the chairwoman, and three Congress councilors on Wednesday joined Bengal's governing party, tipping the scales in favor of Trinamul.

Trinamul is now able to formally shift the guard at the SDO's office and take over control of the 12-member municipality from the Congress.

Shila Chatterjee, the chairwoman who was elected as an Independent, and Mithun Kandu, one of the renegade Congress council members, said they were unable to serve their community's interests in the Congress and joined Trinamul to support Mamata Banerjee's development agenda.

"People chose me in order for me to work well for them. But we were unable to participate in the civic organization run by Congress. So, we made the decision to join Trinamul," said Chatterjee, who was followed by Mithun and three other people.

They were given Trinamul party flags by Mahato, who said that if they wanted to work for Bengal's development, they had no choice but to join Mamata's party.

Jhalda was Bengal's only municipality under a Congress administration.

Trinamul is attempting to destroy the Congress in Bengal, according to Congress leader Kaustav Bagchi.

The Congress and Trinamul each won five seats in the Jhalda local board elections in February 2022, while Independents won two seats.

Congress councilman Tapan Kandu was allegedly killed in March 2022 before the civic board was established amid claims that Trinamul had a role in the crime in order to "grab" power.

A murder investigation is being conducted by the CBI as per a Calcutta High Court directive.

One of the two Congress council members who remained on the same side as Tapan's wife, Purnima Kandu, called the situation "unexpected" on Wednesday.

"The BJP and Trinamul have unleashed muscle-backed and money-backed politics in Bengal," state Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said. Trinamul brought them over from north India, where they were common.

CPM State Secretary Md Salim echoed Chowdhury when he remarked, "I do not blame those who have deserted. How long can they resist against state-sponsored terror when they are such impoverished people? I commend them for persevering throughout this time. Mamata eats anything. She can't even allow a 12-member tiny municipality to be ruled by the opposition.