W. Burdwan TMC district chief disrupts AMC meeting, summons MMIC for SIR camp
The Statesman | 1 December 2025
The recent whiplash by top-level party leaders over the ongoing electoral roll revision exercise has made the West Burdwan Trinamul Congress district president disrupt an important meeting of the Asansol Municipal Corporation and summon the MMIC Health to a SIR review camp being held by the party.
“Do the board meeting later. Stop all that for now. Come immediately. Leave everything and rush to the SIR camp right now.” This was the stern instruction over phone yesterday by the district president Narendra Nath Chakraborty to the Member Mayor-in-Council Health, Divyendu Bhagat.
The AMC board meeting had coincided with Chakraborty’s inspection at the SIR camp in Raniganj. It had been called to discuss important health issues like combatting dengue and linked sanitary issues, sources said, and was being attended by the mayor, Bidhan
Upadhyay, chairman Amar Nath Chatterjee, commissioner Ekam J. Singh, deputy mayors Wasimul Haque and Abhijit Ghatak, and all the other borough chairman, MMICs and councillors, besides Bhagat.
The TMC district president, who is also the Pandaveswar MLA, scolded and even warned Bhagat for not being present at the review camp, which was being held in Ward 36, of which Bhagat is the councillor. In a recording that has gone viral, Chakraborty sounded very
much unhappy. “Becoming a councillor is not a hereditary right. If you don’t join the battle for votes, you
will face problems later,” was his strong message.
The episode of him scolding the Health MMIC over phone from the TMC office with the call put on speaker has already become viral on social media, leaving scope for Opposition parties to mock the situation. Former mayor and BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari claimed, “The board meeting about the city’s health is extremely important. Mr. Chakraborty doesn’t understand such matters. He only understands coal, sand, and similar things,” he alleged.
He further said: “The concerned MMIC is actually close to Minister Moloy Ghatak. There is now factional fighting between Mr. Chakraborty and Mr. Ghatak. The district president scolded the MMIC to indirectly target the heavyweight minister’s camp.”
MMIC Bhagat tried to clarify by saying that the district president was misinformed about him and that somebody had provoked him. He added that if leaders get influenced by the loose talk of others, it would harm the party.
TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had specifically instructed party workers and leaders a few days ago to be more proactive
regarding SIR. After his virtual meeting with party members, the West Burdwan TMC district president had became more active. During a meeting with the party’s BLA-2 members, several lacunae regarding SIR activities were exposed.