Three Bengal ministers were on Tuesday removed from the helm of board of administrators at civic bodies in keeping with the Trinamul Congress’s new policy of “one person, one post”.
While Sujit Bose was removed as the head of the board at South Dum Dum, Rathin Ghosh and Arup Roy were divested of the charge at Madhyamgram and Howrah, respectively.
The decision prompted speculation on the future of minister and senior Trinamul leader Firhad Hakim, who is at the helm of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s board of administrators.
The overall pattern of the changes, said several seniors in Trinamul, has a discernible imprint of the party’s national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee, whose appointment to the post took place on June 5, the same day the policy was adopted.
While the list of members on the board of administrators at the Jalpaiguri municipality was announced on Tuesday, leaders of Trinamul and the BJP were all surprised. Subhajit Kar, who had left Trinamul and joined the BJP in February, was made a member of the board.
According to Trinamul insiders, the list of prospective members of the board had been prepared and sent to the state leadership when Kar was still in the party.
“It seems the state leadership did not cross-check whether he is still with the party. We think that is why his name is on the list,” a district Trinamul leader said.
Kar himself was perplexed.
“I have not yet received any formal letter, but yes, I have seen the notification. It is surprising as Trinamul hardly gives recognition to any leader or elected representative of other political parties,” he said.
Former minister Rabindranath Ghosh has been nominated as the chairman of the North Bengal Development Council, while Binoy Krishna Burman and Sabitri Mitra, have been made the vice-chairperson.
Both Burman and Mitra are former ministers.
Former Trinamul district presidents like Ranjan Sarkar and Gautam Das and former MPs like Bijoy Chandra Burman were appointed as members of the council.