TMC leader Firhad Hakim quits as Kolkata mayor

KOlkata: veteran soldier Trinamool united states congress (TMC) leader Firhad hakeem resigned as the city manager of calcutta Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday, signaling that the aftershocks of the party’s assembly poll rout are now shaking the urban power structures that long anchored its political dominance.With the mayor’s resignation, the administration of the civic body is expected to pass into bureaucratic hands until the state government decides on the next course of action.Addressing a press conference after resigning from the post, Hakim said he could no longer discharge his responsibilities in the manner he believed the office demanded.“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 no longer 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 told reporters.This comes two days after TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told the media that Hakim had sought permission from party chief Mamata Banerjee to resign from the mayor’s post and that she has given her nod.“I sought permission from our party supremo to step down as the mayor with dignity. She gave the nod,” he said.Hakim has been the mayor since 2018. He was also the state urban development and municipal affairs minister.The four-time MLA also acknowledged that several projects remained unfinished. “A lot of work remains incomplete. I wish those who run the corporation after me all the best. They may do a better job than I could. Our work is to run the civic body transparently and fulfill the wishes of the people. I would urge the new government and the chief minister to fulfill the people’s aspirations. We are all there to serve the people. The people would select those who work the best. That’s why I am vacating the chair,” he said.The office he vacates carries a legacy stretching back 150 years and was once occupied by luminaries such as Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and former chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy.“When I first became mayor, I never imagined I could become a worthy successor to such great personalities,” Hakim said.Reacting to his resignation, BJP MLA and councillor Sajal Ghosh said, “The mayor said he did a lot for Kolkata during his tenure. Please ask him to highlight one achievement. There are none. He said that he wanted to resign with dignity. But the reality is he was afraid of people throwing eggs at him. He has fled abandoning the people and the civic body just before the monsoon.”Concurrently, Krishna Chakraborty resigned from the mayor’s post of Bidhannagar city on Thursday, while Ram Chakraborty had earlier resigned from the post of mayor of Chandaannagore.After the BJP swept the assembly polls and took charge on May 9, several TMC leaders resigned from various posts in civic bodies across the state. The list includes chairperson, vice-chairperson, ward councilors 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 sent his resignation.Also, several TMC leaders, including ward councilors across multiple civic bodies have been arrested since May 9 on charges of corruption, extortion, threatening people and their role in 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.EOM