Kolkata, June 11: Buckling under pressure from party supremo Mamata Banerjee, senior party leader and city mayor Subrata Mukherjee today reinstated all ten Members of the Mayor-in-Council (MMICS) of the TC-BJP controlled civic body including the seven who had allegedly assaulted the municipal commissioner, which sparked off the crisis. The dismissed MMICS were sworn-in by the mayor personally who had to revert from his earlier stand of taking action against the offenders, following a meeting with Mamata last night.
Mamata, who had earlier supported Mukherjee's action of dissolving the council on Monday, did a turnaround to come out in support of the seven MMICS to stave off the deepening crisis within the party. Mamata had a nearly four-hour meeting with the mayor last night during which the compromise formula was worked out. Under it Mukherjee was forced to re-induct all the sacked MMICS and was even asked to consider removing the commissioner Debasis Som, who was allegedly assaulted inside his office.
The seven MMICS were arrested yesterday by city police on a complaint by Som, but later released by a court. When asked to explain his change in the stand, the mayor simply said, "All actions were taken under instructions from my leader (Mamata Banerjee)."
The mayor, however, changed the portfolios of four of the seven MMICS accused of assaulting the commissioner. Bureau Report