Chairman, vice-chairman removed for internal feud

Kolkata: Taking a tough stand against infighting, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday removed the chairman and vice-chairman of North Dum Dum municipality and announced the names of Subodh Chakraborty as chairman and Lopamudra Dutta Chowdhury as vice-chairman of the civic body.

The decision was taken after a high-level meeting at the chamber of state Food minister Jyotipriya Mallick who also happens to be the TMC president of the North 24-Parganas. Senior Trinamool Congress leaders like Saugata Roy, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Nirmal Ghosh and most importantly 25 councillors of the municipality were also present in the meeting.

"We have removed the chairman and vice-chairman and have appointed new ones after we reached a consensus in the meeting. The parliamentary party of the municipality will hold a meeting every 15 days to keep a stock of the progress of work and at the same time a monitoring committee that has been formed will also hold meetings in presence of senior leaders to keep an eye on the functioning " Mallick said.

It may be mentioned that factional feuds within the TMC had reached its pinnacle in North Dum Dum on May 24 when the vice-chairman of the TMC-run North Dum Dum municipality was assaulted at his office by two contractors allegedly close to chairman Kalyan Kar.

The ruckus inside spilled on to the streets as vice-chairman Nazimul Haq's supporters blocked roads and railway tracks and damaged police vehicles, bringing traffic in Birati-Nimta area to a halt. Even MP Saugata Roy was mobbed by the protesters when he reached the spot to pacify the crowd.

The party had formed a committee under the leadership of Roy to address the issue of internal infighting. The committee had recommended the removal of both the chairman and the vice-chairman for such action which they felt was not commensurate with the party line. The recommendation was ratified in Tuesday's meeting.