TMC leader Firhad Hakim resigns as Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor

TRinamool us congress (TMC) leader Firhad hakeem resigned as the city manager of calcutta Municipal corp (KMC) on Friday.“Firhad Hakim is no one. It is the chair which calls for respect. Revered personalities have sat on this chair in the past. When I was the municipal affairs minister and the mayor, I ran it (KMC) well. I used to provide relief to the people. That’s not being possible now. I can’t disrespect the chair. I can’t cling to the chair while being a soldier with arms and armour. It would be disrespecting those revered personalities. That’s why I decided to resign,” Hakim said after resigning.This comes two days after TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told the media that Hakim had sought permission from party supremo Mamata Banerjee to resign from the mayor’s post and that she had given her nod.“I sought permission from our party supremo to step down as the mayor with dignity. She gave the nod,” Hakim said.Hakim has been the mayor since 2018. He was also the state urban development and municipal affairs minister.“My best wishes for those who would take charge. Maybe they would run the civic body better than me. Many may criticise. But our work is to run the civic body transparently and fulfil the wishes of the people. I would urge the new government and the chief minister to fulfil the people’s aspirations. We are all here to serve the people. The people would select those who work the best. That’s why I am vacating the chair,” Hakim said.Meanwhile, Krishna Chakraborty resigned from the mayor’s post of Bidhannagar city on Thursday, and Ram Chakraborty had earlier resigned from the post of mayor of Chandannagore.After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Assembly polls and took charge on May 9, several TMC leaders have resigned from various posts in civic bodies across the state. The list includes chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, ward councillors and borough heads in at least 10 municipalities and municipal corporations.Earlier in May, at least two borough chairpersons of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation resigned from their posts. On Tuesday, a member of the mayor-in-council submitted his resignation.Also, several TMC leaders, including ward councillors, across multiple civic bodies have been arrested since May 9 on charges of corruption, extortion, threatening people and their alleged role in the 2021 post-poll clashes.West Bengal has 128 civic bodies, all led by the TMC. While seven are municipal corporations (Kolkata, Siliguri, Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, Bidhannagar and Chandannagore), the rest are municipalities. Elections to all these civic bodies are likely to be held by the end of this year. The civic bodies were TMC citadels.“Several TMC councillors in civic bodies across West Bengal have resigned over the past few days. In many civic bodies, the TMC councillors are not coming to office and have stopped working. The monsoon season is approaching. It only reflects their irresponsibility. We had to appoint administrators in at least 25 civic bodies to run these civic bodies,” state municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul had earlier told HT.