Kolkata: Who will be on mayor’s team?

KOLKATA: Several names might be doing the rounds for the new mayoral council team, but Trinamool insiders say most of the members choose themselves, with only a few positions left to be decided.


The Trinamool top brass, along with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has started listing names for the mayor-in-council over the past 72 hours.

Firhad Hakim

, the next mayor, reportedly had talks with several senior leaders, especially his predecessor

Subrata Mukherjee

, on Friday.


Sources in the Trinamool municipal party in the

KMC

said the party high command was in favour of choosing young, dynamic and fresh faces to replace a section of elderly leaders, who had either been unwell or not living up to the expectations so far as performance as a member, mayor-incouncil is concerned. Names of Jui Biswas and Bappaditya Dasgupta have been doing the rounds in the civic corridors. While Jui is minister Aroop Biswas’s sister-in-law, Bappaditya is close to state cabinet minister and Trinamool veteran Partha Chatterjee.

Biswanor Chatterjee, a sitting councillor and a borough chairperson, may be considered for an MMiC berth. Chatterjee did not conceal his discontent when Trinamool’s Subhasish Chakraborty was sent to Rajya Sabha. Atin Ghosh will be sworn in as the deputy mayor on December 3, replacing Iqbal Ahmed, who has been unwell for the past few months. Smita Bakshi, a senior councillor from north Kolkata, is also being considered for the council.

A source in the Trinamool said Indrani Saha Banerjee, who was inducted as an MMiC in 2015, and a veteran MMiC, who had been skipping office for ill health, might be dropped. Hakim was also keen on reshuffling the portfolios of the MMiCs and discussions had begun, a source said.

Going by the rules, Hakim, elected as the leader of the Trinamool municipal party in the KMC, will have to name the members of the new mayor-in-council once he is sworn in as the mayor on December 3.