Bidhannagar Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta has been cause for embarrassment for his party, the Trinamool Congress, for several months now. His meeting on Sunday evening with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy has infuriated the top Trinamool leadership. Though it is a matter of time that Dutta is no longer a part of the Trinamool Congress, it is now more of a question of who takes the first step – whether he leaves on his own or his party shows him the door. Dutta is also the lawmaker of Rajarhat-New Town.
On Monday, minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said that if Dutta has any self respect, he should leave the party on his own. Dutta has been meeting Mukul Roy from time to time and saying that these were “courtesy meetings”, but Hakim today said that there was no question of meeting leaders of those political parties whose workers were attacking and killing Trinamool Congress workers. “If you belong to Trinamool Congress, you must stand by your workers, not meet leaders of those parties whose workers are killing our workers,” the Kolkata Mayor said.
Last week, Dutta had been party of an agitation in Salt Lake against the state government and dared the party to take action against him. He addressed a rally attacking state power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
On Saturday, a majority of Trinamool Congress councillors of the Bidhannagar municipality expressed discontent about Dutta’s style of functioning at a party meeting in Kolkata, which was called by the senior leadership to discuss the matter. Deputy Mayor Tapas Chatterjee has been assigned the work of the Mayor. He said that work was getting affected as no important decisions could be taken due to the absence of the Mayor and lack of mayor-in-council meetings for months.
“What Sabyasachi Dutta has been doing for months is embarrassing for the party and that’s exactly the reason he has been doing it. He has been given a number of chances, and I tried a number of times to mediate and protect him. But now, he has gone too far. The party should take action against him,” Hakim said.
For now, the Trinamool Congress leadership has decided that Dutta will be asked to step down from the post of the Mayor, and if he does not agree, the councillors will move a no-confidence motion against him. Stricter action is not ruled out either.
