Trinamool Congress activists turn violent over mayor issue in Siliguri India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Activists of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party turned violent here on Thursday after their ally, the Congress party, aligned with Communist Party of India (Marxist), to run the local civic body. Fifteen TMC councillors walked out of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation oath-taking ceremony after Gangotri Dutta of the Congress party was sworn in as city mayor. Dutta secured 32 votes, - 15 of the Congress and 17 of the CPI(M)-led Left Front, while TMC's Goutam Deb garnered 15 votes, including an Independent councillor. Agitated TMC supporters ransacked the felicitation ceremony where the councillors and the board members of both the TMC and the Congress parties were to be felicitated. Ratan Saha, a TMC activist, accused the Congress of breaching trust. "Congress has given a letter that it will support the Left Front. We will sit in the opposition. It is a betrayal of people's verdict. We are unhappy about it," said Saha. Anticipating trouble, a police force followed the events and brought the mob under control. TMC has meanwhile decided to sit in the opposition in the municipal corporation.