Trinamool wants to win panchayat polls at any cost: Congress

Kolkata, March 23: The

Saturday accused the Mamata Banerjee-led

government of deliberately scheduling the rural body polls to suit its own interests and adopting unfair means to prevent an inevitable defeat.

"The reason behind scheduling the polls in North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad separately in a single phase is amply clear. The government knows it cannot win the polls in these districts if free and fair polls are conducted," state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya told the media here.

The panchayat polls announced Friday, will be held in two phases with North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad districts where Congress has a stronghold going to the polls April 30, while in rest, of the districts barring Kolkata and Darjeeling, the elections will be held April 26.

"The government has chosen a separate day for these three districts so that it can mobilise its goons and anti-social elements and with the aid of police, it can resort to all unfair means to starve off an inevitable defeat," alleged Bhattacharya.

He said his party will meet Governor M K Narayanan to discuss the matter.

"The Trinamool Congress wants to win the polls by hook or crook. They are willing to go any way to ensure their victory. We will apprise the governor about this," added Bhattacharya.

IANS