KOLKATA: Burying their ideological differences, winners from BJP, CPM and Congress joined hands to form boards in at least three gram panchayats in West Bengal in order to keep Trinamool Congress at bay.

BJP and CPM formed the gram panchayat board jointly at Mahishadal in East Midnapore district on Wednesday. BJP and TMC had bagged eight seats each out of 18, while CPM had won two. BJP’s Subhra Panda and CPM’s Paresh Panigrahi were elected pradhan and upa-pradhan, respectively.
Amritberia was tense since the morning over the formation of the panchayat board, with TMC’s Mahisadal MLA Tilak Kumar Chakraborty accusing CPM of providing tacit support to BJP against Trinamool Congress.

BJP and CPM, however, denied any understanding and said the decision was because of local compulsions. CPM panchayat member Bulu Prasad Jana said: “INDIA alliance is a decision of the party at the national level. But, I supported the BJP-led panchayat board to honour the sentiment of local people.”
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said equations on ground were different from what they are at state and national levels.
(With inputs from Suman Mandal, Ashis Poddar & Sukumar Mahato)