Mamata names mayors for newly-formed civic bodies

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday named Trinamool Congress legislator Sabyasachi Dutta as the mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.

Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool chairperson, named Jitendra Tiwari as the mayor of the Asansol Corporation.

Following a meet with all the elected councilors, Banerjee announced Dutta, who represents Rajarhat, as the mayor of Bidhannagar corporation comprising Salt Lake in the northeastern parts of the city and Rajarhat-Newtown in eastern part.

While Krishna Chakraborty was nominated as the chairman of the newly set-up corporation, former Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Tapas Chatterjee, who recently joined the Trinamool, was nominated as deputy mayor.

Banerjee also announced setting up a committee headed by state Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim to help the newly formed corporations to work in an efficient manner.

The polls to the municipal bodies in Bidhannagar in North 24 Parganas district and Asansol in Burdwan district were held on October 3 amid allegations of widespread violence and electoral malpractices against the Trinamool.

The state's ruling party registered a landslide victory bagging 37 of the 41 wards in Bidhannagar and 74 of the 106 in Asansol.