TMC MLA Firhad Hakim, also considered close to Mamata Banerjee, announced his resignation as Kolkata mayor on Friday, claiming that he was not able to work and cannot disrespect the chair. Hakim’s resignation came amid trouble for the Mamata-led Trinamool over the ongoing infighting within the party following the poll debacle in recently concluded assembly elections in Bengal.
“I am resigning as Kolkata mayor because I am not able to work and I cannot disrespect the chair”, Hakim said as he announced his resignation.
Earlier this week, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh announced that party supremo Mamata Banerjee had accepted Hakim’s request to step down.
“At that time, he was asked not to resign. However, he again requested Mamata Banerjee today to allow him to step down, following which she agreed,” PTI news agency quoted Ghosh as saying.
TMC Faces Internal Rift
Trinamool Congress faced a massive setback after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ousted it from power following its 15 year rule in Bengal and won the elections in a landslide victory by securing 208 seats in the elections.
However, before Mamata’s party party could recover from the loss, it faced another crisis of rebellion in its legislative ranks. On Wednesday, Speaker Rathindra Nath Bose recognised 58 rebel TMC legislators, led by MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, as the principal Opposition bloc in the Assembly. In addition to this, the Speaker also appointed Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
As part of damage control, the TMC supremo has over the past few days been on a personal outreach mission, dialling several MLAs from Howrah, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur, according to party sources quoted by news agency PTI. Many of them were seen at meetings of the rebel camp led by expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee.
The Ritabrata camp seized control of the TMC’s legislature party on Wednesday after 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs backed his installation as Leader of the Opposition, a claim accepted by assembly speaker Rathindra Bose.