The Congress in Siliguri is facing more trouble in the ranks following its decision to take support from the Left to wrest the mayor’s post in the municipal corporation from its ally Trinamool Congress.

Today, a faction led by district INTUC president Alok Chakraborty called for a mass convention on Tuesday in Siliguri. “The decision to take the Left’s support is suicidal for the Congress here. We have to answer to the people. There was no consensus at the grass-roots level in the party over the issue,” said Chakraborty. “We want state-level leaders to discuss remedial measures. Only one or two persons here are taking all decisions that may be dangerous for the Congress,” he added.

The mass convention in Siliguri will be attended by Congress leaders of all 47 wards.

Shankar Malakar, convenor of district Congress, said, “We will talk to them and the issue will be resolved. Our unity here is intact. Some people may have different view in a democratic set-up.”

Meanwhile, Debaprasad Roy, the Congress MLA from Jalpaiguri and an AICC-vice president who resigned recently in protest, said he had no immediate plans to join the Trinamool Congress. “I have no plans of joining the Trinamool. I had protested because I felt the decision was wrong and was detrimental to our party,” he said.

Roy said he still considers Mamata Banerjee as Bengal’s prime leader. “We have an alliance with the Trinamool. We should make it more strong, not weaken it by such decisions,” Roy said.

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