By IANS,
Kolkata : Speculation was rife Thursday on who will be the new Kolkata mayor, with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying a worker and not a leader will be chosen for the key post.
With Trinamool’s Javed Khan, leader of the opposition in the last board, biting the dust in Sunday’s civic polls, the name of Sovan Chatterjee is being heard for the post of mayor even as the party basks in the glory of bagging 95 of the 141 wards in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
However, Banerjee, who is also railway minister, has kept everyone guessing.
“Our elected councillors will take a decision soon. But we will have a party worker and not a leader as mayor. We have learnt from out experience that a worker can deliver better than a leader.”
After Banerjee’s comments, two other names have been doing the rounds as the party’s mayoral nominee.
One is that of Sashi Panja, daughter-in-law of late Trinamool leader Ajit Panja. The other is Bobby Hakim, a young Trinamool councillor-cum-legislator known to be close to Banerjee.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the outgoing mayor, belongs to the Communist Party of India-Marxist. He did not contest.