Mamata Banerjee rewards loyalist with Bidhannagar mayor chair

Krishna Chakraborty, a loyal soldier and a long-time aide of CM, would be at the helm of the civic body

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Trinamul meeting in Kalighat, Calcutta, on Friday. : Telegraph photo.

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |  Bolpur(Birbhum)   |  19.02.22 :   Firhad Hakim on Friday evening announced the name of Krishna Chakraborty as the mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation — making it clear that a loyal soldier and a long-time aide of Mamata and Trinamul would be at the helm of the civic body.

“Krishna Chakraborty will be the mayor of Bidhannagar (corporation) and Sabysachi Dutta will be the chairman. The deputy mayor would be Anita Mondal,” announced Firhad Hakim after an over an hour meeting of Trinamul’s national committee headed by party’s supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Hakim also announced the name of Bidhan Upadhyay as mayor of Asansol along with two deputy mayors — Abhijit Ghatak and Wasimul Haque along with Amarnath Chatterjee as the chairman. The mayor of Chandernagore Municipal Corporation would be Ram Chakraborty.

Prior to the Trinamul national working committee meeting in Calcutta on Friday, Mamata had settled the issue of selecting the mayors of the three corporations after brief sessions with Abhishek Banerjee, Malay Ghatak and Firhad Hakim.

Mamata on February 14, the day the results of the four civic polls held on February 12 were out, had announced Gautam Deb as the mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

Sources said all eyes, including of senior party workers, were on the selection of the mayor of Bidhannagar with speculations on who will be at the helm. The two names doing the rounds were old timer Krishna or turncoat Sabyasachi Dutta, who rejoined the party on October 7 last year after a stint with the BJP.

Sabyasachi, the former mayor of Bidhannagar and a Trinamul MLA from Rajarhat-New Town constituency, had left Trinamul and joined BJP on February 1 in 2019. Sources said he was one of the many Trinamul leaders to join the BJP thinking that the saffron camp could grab power in the state after it secured 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general election.

Many Trinamul insiders said selecting Krishna was a good decision by Mamata to send a message towards those like Sabyasachi who had left the party to join the BJP before Assembly polls when the party was in a crisis.

Her nephew Abhishek Banerjee was also against putting Sabyasachi at the helm of Bidhannagar as he did not want a “traitor” to head the civic body.

“Amid the ongoing conflicts between Didi and Abhishek, many thought that Didi may select Sabyasachi as the mayor of Bidhannagar. However, Didi always gives priority to the party as she knows it is more important. She did not throw him out but tried to balance the political equation by satisfying both — Krishna and Sabyasachi,” said a senior Trinamul leader.

On February 14, the day of the results, Sabyasachi went and met Mamata Banerjee at her house that triggered speculations within the party about his possibility of becoming the mayor.

Trinamul sources said Chakraborty was a very old aide of Mamata and she had been with her since the 1980s and spent time together since the inception of Trinamul.

“Didi is like my mother and my leader. I stepped into politics after being influenced by her. There is no tough or good time in politics. We are with the party and will work for the people every day,” an emotional Chakraborty told reporters after she was named the mayor.

Sabyasachi said he was happy with the post of chairman and thanked Mamata.

Like Bidhannagar, Trinamul also did the act of balancing rival factions within the party in Asansol. Bidhan Upadhyay, who did not contest the Asansol civic polls, was announced as the mayor, who will also have two deputies.