2 Jul 2009, 1023 hrs IST

KOLKATA, India: The anti-Left wave that first swamped the southern Bengal districts in the 2008 panchayat elections and then turned into a storm in the Lok Sabha polls, has once again washed away the CPM-led front in the municipal polls, with the Trinamool-led Opposition wresting 13 of the 16 municipalities.

The results are a huge shot in the arm for Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, who is only expected to raise her demand for dismissal of the “unpopular” Left government in West Bengal and early elections in the state. By the same measure, the writing is on the wall for the Left — the state has turned away from it.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee described the municipal results as a victory of “ma, mati, manush”. “The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has learnt it the hard way and should step down immediately,” she said.

CPM leader and state minister Subhas Chakraborty said he knew the results would be like this. “I knew this would happen. It is a jolt and we can’t just bounce back immediately. How can you stay in power if people do not want you? I hope we can prevent a debacle in 2011,” he said.

As in the Lok Sabha polls, Left Front was routed in the South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly civic bodies. In North 24-Parganas, it could only retain the Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality, losing Dum Dum, South Dum Dum and Madhyamgram. Its tally is down to three from the previous 10. (There were clashes in Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality’s Kestopur area late in the day.)

Significantly, Trinamool made impressive inroads in Burdwan, considered a Red bastion. It retained the Kulti Municipality and won Asansol. It also opened its account in Shalepur gram panchayat bypoll under Arambag in Hooghly, an area where it could not even field a candidate in the 2008 panchayat polls. Trinamool candidate Susmita Bhattacharya won the municipal bypoll in ward 63 in the city.

The civic poll results virtually mirror the Lok Sabha polls. In all municipal areas in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and parts of Burdwan, Left Front was way behind the Opposition. It had trailed in 36 of the 50 municipal wards in Asansol during the last Lok Sabha polls. Results of the Rajarhat-Gopal-pur Municipality stand out as an exception where the Left retained the municipality despite reverses in the entire North 24-Parganas.

Asansol was the biggest breakthrough for the Trinamool-Congress alliance, which won the civic body after 15 years. The situation in South 24-Parganas is the worst for the Left. Here, the Opposition alliance wrested the Maheshtala Municipality and the Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality, which form the backyard of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Jadavpur Assembly constituency.

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