Siliguri rural body chief removed

Pascal Minz

TT, Siliguri, Oct. 15: Pascal Minz of the CPM has been removed from the post of the sabhadhipati of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad by the Jalpaiguri divisional commissioner after a no-trust motion was passed against him.

The motion moved by three members who had resigned from the Congress and joined Trinamul was passed on October 7 and the order to remove Minz from the post was issued the next day by divisional commissioner R.D. Meena.

“J.B. Subba, the additional executive officer of the mahakuma parishad, issued a letter to Minz and six other members of the rural body on October 10, informing them about Meena’s order,” said a mahakuma parishad official.

The mahakuma parishad has seven members in total and four of them belonged to the CPM.

However, Jyoti Tirkey of the CPM defied the party’s whip to abstain from the meeting to take up the no-confidence motion and voted for it.

Observers said the next sabhadhipati would most probably be Tirkey.

“The post of sabhadhipati is reserved for STs and out of the three Trinamul members, only Anjelica Kuzur is from the community. Without a proper assurance from Trinamul on making her the sabhadhipati, it was unlikely that she voted for the no-confidence motion,” said an observer.

Tirkey was a sahakari sabhadhipati in the CPM-run body for the rural areas of the Siliguri subdivision.

Sources in the mahakuma parishad said the election to the post of the sabhadhipati was likely to be held on October 21.

Darjeeling district CPM leaders said the party wouldn’t field any candidate in the election.

“We have filed a suit in Calcutta High Court challenging Trinamul’s notice to bring the no-confidence motion at the mahakuma parishad. The case is pending and right now, we are not ready to look into other issues,” said CPM leader and former minister Asok Bhattacharya.

“When there is confusion over the legality of the no-confidence motion, how can we think of fielding a candidate in the election for the sabhadhipati’s post?” he asked.