Kolkata, December 3
The CPM was routed in the municipal elections at Behrampore and Krishnanagar in Nadia district, which saw election of two party MPs in the last Lok Sabha poll.

However, in Howrah, Jhargram, west Midnapore, the party retained its control by winning the maximum number of seats, though it lost several seats as compared to the last time.

Interestingly, in Behrampore and Krishnanagar, the Congress retained its supremacy for the third time in a row, the credit for which is being given to Adhir Chowdhury, the sitting Congress MP from Behrampore. The elections in these four municipalities were held on Sunday and the results were declared yesterday.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee was busy organising a campaign for paddy cultivation in the forcibly-acquired vacant plots at Singur.

The Singur-victim Tapashi Mallick’s bereaved mother transplanted the first seedling. At the meeting held in front of the Nano plant site in the afternoon, Mamata invited the affected farmers to start cultivation in the 400 acres of land at Singur for their livelihood. She warned that any attempts to stop them by the government and the cadres would be firmly opposed. Mamata said they would allow the industries to be built in the 600 acres of land allotted to the Tatas.

The meeting was attended by prominent leaders and personalities, including Somen Mitra, Debabrata Bandopadhyya, former bureaucrat, Prof Sunanda Sanyal and social activist Anuradha Talwar. During the meeting, traffic on the Durgapur highway was affected.