Sanjay Singh becomes new chairman of Garulia Municipality

Kolkata: Sanjay Singh of Trinamool Congress has become the chairman of Garulia Municipality. During the election to select the chairman which was held on Friday, 13 Trinamool councillors voted for Singh while 7 BJP members and one Forward Bloc councillor refrained from voting.

Trinamool had earlier moved a no-confidence motion against the BJP board and realising that BJP will not be able to retain its control over the municipality, former chairman Sunil Singh had resigned last Monday.

In the 21 member Garulia Municipality, Trinamool originally had 20 councillors, while Forward Bloc had one seat.

After the result of the Lok Sabha election was declared, 12 Trinamool councillors including chairman Sunil Singh joined the BJP. Singh is an MLA from Noapara and the brother in-law of Arjun Singh.

In September, shortly before Durga Puja, 5 out of 12 Trinamool councillors who had joined the saffron party returned back to their original fold, resulting in rise in the strength of Trinamool to 13 in the municipality. The Trinamool councillors then moved a no-confidence motion against Singh.

Trinamool has already reestablished its control over Bongaon, Halisahar, Kanchrapara and Naihati municipalities, which had gone to BJP after the Lok Sabha poll.

When contacted, Singh said that the people of Garulia have extended full support to Mamata Banerjee and the development work she has carried out in the area. The municipality, which will go for election in 2020, will expedite the development work which got stalled after BJP took over the civic body in May.

Trinamool's control over Garulia Municipality indicates that the grip of Arjun Singh is fading fast in the area. The municipality is situated under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, from where Arjun was elected.

He had allegedly threatened the Trinamool councillors to join BJP. But the latter soon realised their mistake and came back to Trinamool.