Amid TMC turmoil around Mamata Banerjee, Bidhannagar mayor Krishna Chakraborty resigns

KOLKATA: Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Krishna Chakraborty resigned from her post on Thursday, submitting her resignation letter to BMC commissioner Ravi Agarwal at Salt Lake Poura Bhavan.In her resignation letter, Chakraborty cited personal reasons for stepping down."I have resigned fully for personal reasons. There is nothing else behind it. As long as I was the mayor, I worked for the people, and now I will continue to work as a councillor," Chakraborty told reporters after tendering her resignation.She also expressed gratitude to the residents of Bidhannagar and denied any bitterness over her decision."I am receiving many calls from well-wishers. I received a lot from the people of Bidhannagar. I am forever grateful to them. I have no resentment towards anyone," she said.The resignation comes amid a dramatic split within the TMC legislature party, days after the party lost power in West Bengal following 15 years in government.In a major setback for the party leadership, 58 of the TMC's 80 MLAs reportedly approached Assembly Speaker Rathindranath Bose, staking claim to the TMC Legislature Party and electing recently expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition.The move has effectively isolated Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, with rebel legislators publicly declaring that he would have no role in either the legislature party or the party's organisational structure going forward.Despite the rebellion, the dissident faction has maintained that former chief minister Mamata Banerjee remains its leader. The group has proposed that she serve as chief advisor to guide the opposition in the Assembly.Meanwhile, the TMC leadership has challenged the legitimacy of the move, alleging irregularities in the signatures submitted to the Speaker.Senior party leader Kunal Ghosh claimed that the signatures of several MLAs appeared on competing letters submitted by both factions and said the matter would require legal scrutiny.(With inputs agencies)