india

Updated: Aug 29, 2019 17:35 IST

As many as 15 councillors, of whom 13 belong to the Trinamool Congress, have submitted a no-confidence motion against the chairman of the Englishbazar municipality in Malda district, making it the fourth civic body in recent times in Bengal where the ruling party has sought removal of the chief who is from their own party.

The councillors submitted the no-confidence motion against chairman Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, who won the municipality polls four years ago as an independent but later joined the TMC.

“I shall do whatever the party will decide,” Ghosh said.

He has been the chairman for the past two years.

“Ghosh has failed to discharge his duties properly and people aren’t getting civic facilities. He has also failed to call the meeting of chairman in council and board BOC. So, we have brought the no confidence motion,” said Prasenjit Das, a TMC councillor.

“No matter whoever becomes the new chairman, the residents of the municipality won’t benefit. It’s a fallout between the tussle between the current and the former chairman Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury,” said Sanjay Sharma, a councillor from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Incidentally, Ghosh shares sour relations with former TMC minister Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, who preceded Ghosh as the municipality chairman. Chowdhury is a current councillor too.

Englishbazar municipality has 29 wards out of which the councillor of one is under suspension.Of the remaining 28, as many as 24 belong to the ruling party. The rest are with the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and independent.

Incidentally, TMC councillors removed the chief of Domkal civic body in Murshidabad district Soumik Hossain in end-July. This month in Pujali municipality of South 24 Parganas district, ruling party councillors removed chairperson Rita Pal through a voice vote following a no-trust motion.

In July, the mayor of Bidhannagar Sabyasachi Dutta, who is also a TMC legislator, resigned after a majority of councillors of his own party brought a no-confidence motion against him.

While in these municipalities TMC heads have been under attack from their own party councillors, several civic bodies in Bengal have witnessed a tug-of-war between the TMC and the BJP since the Lok Sabha election results were declared.

The seven bodies where TMC lost majority after their councillors joined the BJP were Bhatpara, Naihati, Halishahar, Kanchrapara, Bongaon, Garulia and Darjeeling.

However, over the past few weeks, TMC leaders claimed they have regained control of four of those -- Naihati, Halishahar, Kanchrapara, Bongaon – with some councillors returning to their fold.