West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dismissed reports of a crisis in the state government after Trinamool Congress leader Sovan Chhatterjee resigned as Kolkata mayor, PTI reported. Chatterjee, who was also the housing and fire service department minister, had resigned from the state Cabinet on Tuesday after Banerjee rebuked him for allegedly ignoring official responsibilities to focus on personal matters.
“There is no crisis at all,” said the chief minister. “One can always resign and there are provisions. Someone can have personal problems.”
Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim will succeed Chatterjee as the mayor, the party announced. Trinamool corporator from North Kolkata Ateen Ghosh will be his deputy. Ghosh replaced Iqbal Ahmed, who is reportedly facing health problems.
Hakim was appointed after the Assembly passed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018, which allows a non-corporator to be appointed as mayor of a civic body, NDTV reported. However, Hakim has to be elected as a corporator within six months.
Earlier in the afternoon, Chhaterjee sent his resignation letter to Kolkata Municipal Corporation Chairperson Mala Roy. “Received Sovan Chatterjee’s resignation from the post of mayor through his messenger,” she said. “I have accepted it. The other formalities will be followed as per rules, after a Trinamool Congress councillors meeting convened by the party supremo Mamata Banerjee is held this evening.”
Chatterjee, once a close aide of Banerjee, filed for divorce in December 2017. “I don’t know how a man who was a dedicated worker of the Trinamool Congress, one of Mamata Banerjee’s favourite party workers has become like this,” his estranged wife Ratna Chatterjee told reporters on Tuesday. “Didi told him, ‘fine, you do not want to go back to your wife, that’s your business, but you must concentrate on your work’. But he did not listen.”
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