TMC's no-confidence motion against Bhatpara municipality

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is likely to bring a no-confidence motion against BJP leader Sourav Singh, chairman of the Bhatpara Municipality in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on December 5 or 6, a senior state minister said on Friday. A total of 26 TMC members had joined the saffron party in the 35-member board of the municipality after the Lok Sabha elections, and Singh became its chairman after winning the trust vote in June.

Earlier this month, the TMC has claimed to have regained the majority in the civic body after 12 of these 26 councillors rejoined the party, taking its count in the municipality to 21. The TMC's North 24 Parganas district president Jyotipriya Mallick said, "The party will bring a no-confidence motion against the Bhatpara Municipality chairman Sourav Singh on December 5 or 6." Sourav Singh is the nephew of Barrackpore Lok Sabha member Arjun Singh, a former four-time TMC assembly member.

Arjun Singh was the chairman of Bhatpara Municipality since 2010 till April this year. He then joined the BJP and wrested the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat from his old party by defeating Dinesh Trivedi. A meeting of the councillors, who had rejoined the TMC, was held at the Assembly premises, said Mallick who is also the state's food and supplies minister.

Bhatpara was first of the seven municipal bodies in the state that the BJP had taken control of since the Lok Sabha elections. The TMC has wrested control of six of them and claimed to have regained the majority in the remaining Bhatpara Municipality. Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy, who had played a key role in the defections, had accused the TMC of using political and administrative powers to force the councillors to rejoin it.

Roy, who was earlier the second in command in the TMC, had joined the saffron party in November 2017..