Cyclone Aila becomes political leveler in West Bengal of India

Cyclone Aila becomes political leveler in West Bengal of India

Cyclone Aila, which rampaged through the West Bengal state of India Monday killing more than 100, has turned out to be a political leveler forcing local top leaders to reach out to their homeless people.

Both the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) government in West Bengal and its rival, opposition Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, are caught in a bitter battle over the cyclone.

Banerjee caused an election disaster recently on CPI-M and gave a major blow to the latter's West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Mamata, who has become an ally of the ruling Congress party in the forming of the new government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has taken the post cyclone plight of local people upon herself to cause further damage to the image of the Left government.

"Every year because of flood and because the Irrigation Department is so callous, they don't do the repairing work with concrete, so it is a phenomenon. They don't work at all. That's why it's so devastating," Mamata told the media on Wednesday.

"It seems no government exists in this state," she added.

The CPI-M-led government, on the other hand, is in damage control mode with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee meeting the homeless in the disaster-struck region of Neempith in the Joynagar area for days.

"This is a serious cyclonic storm. So I thought I should personally go there. I just assured them. They are asking when they will be able to go back to their houses," Buddhadeb said. "People should not do politics in such times."

Mamata scored a point earlier by taking charge of the Railway Ministry in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, instead of New Delhi thus making a point loud and clear that even as Union Railway Minister, her priorities remained very much local.

Bhattacharjee is trying his best to stop people's discontent from spreading any further and admitted that people in Kolkata were facing a lot of problems as the city has remained without telephone and electricity for three days so far.

"In many areas there is no water. Electricity supply is disrupted in the northern and southern suburbs. We are trying our best," Bhattacharjee said.

The death count in floods triggered by Cyclone 'Aila' has reached move than 100 in West Bengal, while 400,000 were made homeless and large parts of cyclone-hit areas of the state are faced with a severe drinking water crisis.

The residents of Kolkata also began resorting to protests Wednesday against the CPI-M government road by setting up blockades before utility offices.

Meanwhile, the army have been conducting relief operations in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, which has been worst hit in the calamity.

Officials estimated that around 150,000 houses have collapsed, while 500 kilometers of embankment along the coast facing Bengal Bay were damaged by flood and high waves from the sea.

There are also reports of diarrhea outbreaks in some remote areas.