Gautam Deb, a veteran Trinamool Congress leader in north Bengal, has stepped down as the mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) after he felt "unwanted" following the Assembly elections, which brought the BJP to power in the state for the first time.
Deb submitted his resignation letter to SMC commissioner Aswini Roy on Thursday evening.
Deb, however, said he would continue to serve as the councillor of ward 33 until the next municipal elections.
“I submitted my resignation to the commissioner yesterday and requested him to take necessary steps. After the recent Assembly elections, whenever official meetings of the state government or district administration were conducted without the presence of the mayor, I felt unwanted and thus, following my conscience, I decided to step down from the post,” Deb told journalists at his residence in Collegepara here.
Deb had assumed the mayor’s office on February 22, 2022.
Asked whether he apprehended non-cooperation from the BJP government, Deb said: “Sometimes silence speaks louder, and one has to understand it. But let me say that I have resigned without any grudge against anyone.”
Reflecting on his long political journey spanning more than five decades, Deb said he had served five terms as a councillor at the SMC and was elected twice as an MLA.
He had recently informed Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee about his decision not to continue in electoral politics.
“There was no pressure on me to resign. In fact, all the councillors wanted me to continue. I informed our party leadership about my decision,” Deb said.
Roy, the commissioner, said Deb’s resignation letter had been forwarded to the state urban development and municipal affairs department.
“We have sent the resignation letter to the additional chief secretary of the department and are awaiting official instructions regarding the future functioning of the civic board,” he said.
Following Deb's resignation, other Trinamool councillors held a meeting at the SMC headquarters on Friday afternoon.
Ranjan Sarkar, the deputy mayor, said: “All 47 councillors are now waiting for the state government’s instructions regarding the functioning of the civic board.”
Sources have said a majority of the councillors are in favour of continuing in the posts till the board’s term ends early next year.
“Two names have been sent to the state government for the posts of the mayor and the deputy mayor. We will have to wait and see what decision the state takes,” said a source.
Amit Jain, the leader of the Opposition and a BJP councillor, criticised Deb’s resignation.
“With waterlogging affecting large parts of the city, we expected the mayor and other office bearers of the SMC to be present on the ground. Unfortunately, he has evaded his responsibilities,” Jain said.
Jyoti Priya quits panel
Jyoti Priya Mallick, a senior Trinamool leader and a former minister, on Friday resigned from the party’s national working committee, citing deteriorating health.
Mallick submitted a letter to Trinamool chairperson Mamata Banerjee, expressing his decision to step down from the committee that was recently constituted by the party.
“My blood sugar level has crossed the 350 mark, and my kidneys are also damaged,” Mallick wrote in the letter.
Citing medical advice, he said the health condition did not permit him to take stress and therefore requested to be relieved from his organisational responsibilities.
Mallick had long been regarded as one of Trinamool’s most experienced organisers. For years, he has served as the North 24-Parganas district president of the party.
However, Mallick himself lost from his home constituency of Habra in the Assembly polls, while Trinamool won only 11 out of the district’s 33 seats.
TMC leader
Alok Chakravorty, a senior Trinamool leader and veteran trade unionist based in Siliguri, resigned from the party for “personal reasons” on Friday.
Chakraborty, who had previously served as the chairman of Trinamool’s Darjeeling (plains) district committee, submitted his resignation letter to the district president.
Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri in Calcutta