From one Independence Day to another, there has been yet another change of guard at Salt Lake Maitri Sangha. Sabyasachi Dutta, re-elected as the local councillor and subsequently made the chairman of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, has been reinstated as the president of the BF Block club that is known for the grand Ganesh and Kali pujas it holds.

On August 15 last year, a meeting was held which had decided on a new committee that left out Dutta as president and introduced the post of chairman in which the local MLA Sujit Bose was named.

Dutta had contested against Trinamul Congress’s Bose on a BJP ticket in the 2021 Assembly election and lost. Soon after, on August 1, 2021, Bose was felicitated at the swimming pool, in an annexe room of which the club office is situated.

Significantly, Dutta too was felicitated at the same venue on March 8 this year after winning the civic poll on a Trinamul ticket. He had quit BJP and returned to the Trinamul fold earlier, in October. And on Independence Day this year, Dutta was on stage giving away prizes at an intra-ward football competition that the club had organised.

The township’s islands along First Avenue now bear banners of the ensuing Ganesh puja with only Dutta’s picture as president.

“He is not a member of the club,” was Dutta’s sharp repartee to The Telegraph on being asked when Bose had been spoken to about the change.

Reminded that last year’s Ganesh and Kali puja banners carried Bose’s pictures, he quipped: “Keu jodi oti utsahey kore toh ki kora jabe (What can be done if someone does so out of over-enthusiasm)?”

Sabyasachi Dutta on the Maitri Sangha stage on Independence Day exactly a year after he was ousted

This year’s Ganesh puja will be a muted affair compared to earlier editions when guests from Bollywood would be invited. “There have been too many changes in the committee due to political reasons. The new committee was reconstituted around June. We are coming out of Covid. Our regular donors have still not made full recovery in their business. We, club members, will raise whatever subscription we can,” said Sanjib Ghosh, joint secretary.

Hero’s homecoming

Minister Sujit Bose felicitates Achinta Sheuli at Sreebhumi on Monday

Commonwealth Games gold medalist Achinta Sheuli was felicitated at Sreebhumi Sporting Club on Independence Day.

The 20-year-old from Deulpur in Howrah arrived with his elder brother Alok and attended the flag hoisting ceremony.

Minister for fire and emergency services Sujit Bose shakes hand with Alok Sheuli as younger brother Achinta looks on

Sheuli, who won India’s third gold medal in Birmingham in the men’s 73kg weight division, was handed a cheque for Rs 2 lakh, sweets and flowers by minister for fire and emergency services Sujit Bose, who is the president of the club. He also felicitated Alok, who works in his department. “Alok has a big contribution to Achinta’s success. He sacrificed his own weightlifting career to support his brother,” Bose pointed out.

The reticent weightlifter thanked the club.

Sudeshna Banerjee