TMC Regains Control of Naihati Municipality from BJP, Saffron Party Miffed with Results

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress regained control over Naihati municipality in West Bengal from the BJP following its victory in the trust vote on Wednesday.

TMC registered a 24-0 victory in the 31-member municipality, located in North 24 Parganas district, officials said.

The remaining seven councillors had refrained from voting.

After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when BJP had bagged 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, 18 out of the 31 councillors of the civic body including its vice-chairman had switched sides to BJP which gave the effective control over it to the saffron party.

But within two months 10 of the turncoats rejoined TMC and alleged that they were forced to join the saffron camp at gunpoint - a charge which was denied by the BJP. Following their return TMC's strength in the municipal body has gone up to 23. Later on one more councillor joined the ruling party increasing its strength to 24.

"The BJP had unethically taken over the municipal body by using force after the Lok Sabha polls. We were confident that if a trust vote was held we will win back the municipality," TMC North 24 district president Jyotipriyo Mullick said.

The state government had in May appointed an administrator to oversee affairs of the civic body. Reacting to the development in Naihati municipality, senior BJP leader Mukul Roy, who had played a key role in the defections, accused TMC of using both political and administrative powers to force the councillors to rejoin the party.

"They (the councillors) had joined BJP as they were fed up with the functioning of TMC. Since then they were being threatened by the police and goons. The TMC forced them to rejoin it. It has done the same in other municipal bodies too," he added.

According to state BJP sources, the party is miffed with the developments and feels that taking leaders of TMC and other parties without background check into its fold had led to the embarrassing situation.

Since the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year the BJP had taken effective control of seven municipal bodies including in Naihati, with a majority of the councillors of the civic bodies joining the BJP.

However, in the last two months except for Bhatpara municipality, which is BJP MP Arjun Singh's stronghold, all the six other municipal bodies have returned to the TMC's control.