The BJP has taken control of the Englishbazar municipality in Malda after 11 Trinamool Congress councillors declared themselves independents and supported BJP MLA Amlan Bhaduri for the vacant chairman’s post at a board of councillors meeting on Wednesday.
Bhaduri, the BJP legislator from the Englishbazar Assembly constituency and the party’s chief whip in the West Bengal Assembly, was unanimously elected chairman in the presence of the 11 councillors. Ten other TMC councillors attended the meeting but did not nominate an alternative candidate, according to a report by The Telegraph India.
The change gives the BJP control of the civic body despite its limited representation in the 29-member municipality. In the 2022 municipal elections, the Trinamool Congress won 25 seats, while the BJP secured three and an Independent won one. One TMC councillor died last year, while three councillors were absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
The political shift began on Wednesday morning when the 11 councillors, including sitting vice-chairperson Sumala Agarwala, met Sambhudwip Sarkar, the sub-divisional officer of Malda Sadar, and declared themselves independents. Their move paved the way for Bhaduri, who had been the leader of the Opposition in the municipality, to be elected chairman.
Bhaduri rejected suggestions that the process involved political bargaining. “There is no drama,” he said after taking charge, according to The Telegraph India. He said his name was proposed and seconded by the BJP’s two other municipal councillors, Sutapa Mukherjee and Krishna Nath, and that no alternative candidate had been put forward.
The new chairman identified the withdrawal of what he described as undesirable taxes and action against illegal constructions as immediate priorities. He also said the BJP intended to provide better local governance and that taking control of the civic body was necessary to pursue that objective.
Bhaduri said the BJP would not offer special concessions to the 11 councillors who had declared themselves independent. He added that a new vice-chairperson and a new leader of the Opposition would be elected later in accordance with municipal rules.
Agarwala said the councillors had distanced themselves from the Trinamool Congress because of factionalism and confusion within the party. She said they would support the new chairman’s development plans. Gayatri Ghosh, a TMC councillor who remains with the party, said the 11 councillors had won their seats on a TMC ticket and that the remaining party councillors did not have the numbers required to elect a chairman.
The takeover follows the BJP’s capture of the Malda zilla parishad chairperson’s post a day earlier, despite the party holding only four seats there. The immediate administrative test for the new leadership in Englishbazar will be the appointment of the vice-chairperson and Opposition leader, followed by the implementation of the priorities announced by Bhaduri.
