Surjya rival re-elected dist secy

1 February 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 1 FEB: CPI-M strongman of West Midnapore Dipak Sarkar will continue his dominance in the district despite the fact that the party had to pay a huge price for his strategy to set up harmad camps in Junglemahal to counter Maoists offensive.
Mr Sarkar, who is also a CPI-M state secretariat member, was re-elected as the party's West Midnapore district secretary for the seventh term yesterday with a majority of the delegates rallying behind him. A CPI-M insider said though Mr Sarkar was going low in the past few months, he successfully took on his arch rival within the party, Dr Surjya Kanta Mishra, the Opposition leader in the Assembly and a party state secretariat member.
Dr Mishra was able to pick leaders for the posts of local and zonal committees secretaries during the recent conferences. Several leaders, who belong to Mr Sarkar's lobby, were also removed from party posts.
Mr Sarkar's plan to set up harmad camps initially gained wide acceptance within the party. But, subsequently it drew criticism from a section of party leaders as they thought it not only put the party in trouble, but also helped create a wrong notion among the people. The killing of nine villagers at Netai in Lalgarh had added to the party's problem ahead of the last Assembly poll.
Former state minister Susanta Ghosh, who is now in jail in connection with the Benachapra skeleton recovery case, and Mr Sarkar were at the helm of the party in West Midnapore for over 20 years. The district leadership also mounted pressure on the government for help to combat the Maoists. Before the Netai killings, Mr Ghosh had repeatedly claimed in public rallies how his cadres had driven Maoist out of Lalgarh. 
“All these have later gone against Mr Sarkar and Mr Ghosh soon after the Trinamul Congress came to power. Dr Mishra, who once criticised the district leaders, became the Opposition leader in the Assembly and started dominating the committees which were controlled by Mr Sarkar,” a party insider said.
The district committee has been downsized to 70 from 81. Eight new faces have been inducted in the committee. Mr Ghosh has been retained in the new committee. Mr Tarun Roy, who is absconding in the same case, too found a place in the committee. CPI-M leaders like Ahmed Ali, Manik Sengupta, Shyam Pandey and Meghnad Bhunia. Fullora Mondal and Anuj Pandey, who are absconding for their alleged involvement in the Netai case, were also retained along with Sukur Ali and Tapan Ghosh who had been chargesheeted in the Nandigram case.