Trounced at the recent panchayat elections, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today demanded CBI inquiry into the election process saying that it was the ruling CPI(M) which, in collusion with the Congress, had manoeuvred the elections in their favour.Today’s results for the panchayat samiti saw the Marxist juggernaut move on. Out of 321 panchayat samitis in the state, the Left Front won 280 samitis, while the Congress got 24. And while the Trinamool got a miserable 4, the BJP got one. ‘‘LF chairman Biman Bose said before the elections that the CPI(M) would get 73 per cent of votes and they have got about 72 per cent. He also said the Congress would come second and this too has come true. We would like to know how he knew the results beforehand. Let the CBI inquire into this,’’ Mamata said.Biman Bose chuckled all along at the party headquarters when he heard this allegation from reporters at the daily briefing. While he maintained he never said such a thing, state secretary Anil Biswas came to his defence. ‘‘It’s possible to know the results before elections if you can feel the pulse of the people. Mamata can feel her own pulse only. Why does she ask for the CBI or President’s Rule every now and then? Why is she afraid of the people?’’ Biswas said.But despite the major victory, Front partner RSP continues to be the thorn in the flesh for the CPI(M). The RSP, two of whose members were killed allegedly by CPI(M) activists during the polls, said they didn’t do well this time because of the CPI(M) hostility. ‘‘We fought alone and despite the CPI(M)’s efforts to stamp us out in our strongholds, we did reasonably well. If this continues we will have to think about remaining in the Left Front. We will raise all these matters at tomorrow’s Left Front meeting,’’ RSP leader Kshiti Goswami told The Indian Express.
