She's waiting... let's wait a bit longer: Sovan

TT, 22 Nov 2018, Calcutta: Sovan Chatterjee has decided to play the waiting game over his resignation as Calcutta mayor.

"What is the name of the chief minister? Her name is Mamata Banerjee. I will follow her instructions as I have always done…. I will send my resignation at an appropriate time. Wait for some more time, you will get to know," Sovan, who quit as minister on Tuesday, told ABP Ananda on Wednesday when asked about his impending resignation.

"The chief minister has told me to resign from the post of mayor. I have never disobeyed her…. She is waiting. You (the media) are waiting. I am also waiting. Let's wait a bit longer. Things will take place in due course," he added.

"Please be a little patient, you will get to know everything. Remember how you found out about my resignation as minister? That's how you will come to know about this too," Sovan went on. "When the time is right, I will answer all questions related to my decisions and my resignation, ending all speculation." Mamata had on Tuesday accepted Sovan's resignation as housing and fire and emergency services minister and announced he had been asked to step down as mayor too.

Although he refused to give a direct answer to questions on his future course of action during the 30-minute interview, Sovan repeatedly expressed his loyalty to Mamata, referring to his 40-year association with her.

"I know her since 1978-79, six years before she became an MP in 1984.... I never defied her, I always obeyed her," Sovan said.

Administrative and political circles were abuzz with speculation on Sovan's impending resignation as mayor and his probable replacement.

Although Wednesday was a government holiday, the offices of the chairperson and commissioner of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation remained open since morning purportedly in anticipation of Sovan coming to put down his Sovan Chatterjee papers.

"According to the rule, the mayor has to submit his resignation before the chairperson of the CMC. So Mala Roy was at her office.... The CMC commissioner, Khalil Ahmed, was also in his office. But Sovanda didn't turn up," said a source in the civic body.

Sources said the Trinamul Congress was preparing for any eventuality.

The urban development and municipal affairs department is likely to move an amendment to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, to allow the government to nominate as mayor a person who is not a councillor at the moment.

"Section 6 of the Act mentions that only a councillor can be the mayor of the city. The government wants to amend it to ensure that an outsider (not a councillor at the moment) can be made mayor subject to the condition that he or she is elected from a ward within six months. The amendment is likely to be moved in the House on Thursday," an official said.

The official said such an amendment was being planned for the past eight months. "May be the process got accelerated because of this development," he said.

On the political front, Trinamul sources said Mamata would meet the party's 122 councillors on Thursday evening. "There is a possibility that the name of the next mayor will be selected at the meeting," said a Trinamul councillor.

Although a section of Trinamul leaders said there was a possibility of rapprochement given Mamata's fondness for Sovan, several others felt she was in no mood to give him an- other chance. Sources said the chief min- ister was upset with Sovan's decision to hand over the resignation letter to her principal secretary on Tuesday afternoon after she refused to accept it.

Mamata apparently got angry with Sovan when he kept arguing with her after she pointed out that he was not being diligent in his work as minister and mayor.

Trinamul insiders said the chief minister had been repeatedly telling Sovan for the past one year to concentrate on his professional life and keep his domestic problems private. Sovan has filed for divorce from his wife, citing mental torture.