A fear among fear

The victor, Mamata’s party, is not warming up to the support offer as yet

Fearing defections from its ranks, the state Congress, after a green signal from the high command, has begun reaching out to ally Trinamool to help it form boards in municipalities that have thrown up a hung verdict but Mamata Banerjee’s party is in no hurry and is still waiting for her nod.

The state Congress has directed its district leaders to initiate dialogue with their Trinamool counterparts regarding formation of boards in 26 municipalities and allow Trinamool to choose the chairmen there.

“There are nearly 26 municipalities where we can support Trinamool in forming boards. In some districts, talks are already on,” said state Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharjee.

Asked regarding a section of Congress councillors trying to switch sides to Trinamool, Bhattacharjee said, “It has happened earlier too. I am not worried. Those who want to go can go. We did not do badly in the municipal polls throughout Bengal. This shows our party has a bright future ahead. In Kolkata Municipal Corporation, we never expected to get the majority. The results were not far below our expectations.”