Krishna Chakraborty was today sworn in as mayor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) after she was unanimously chosen by all the councillors present in the civic body’s board meeting except Sabyasachi Dutta, the former mayor, who was conspicuous by his absence.

Anita Mandol stepped into Mrs Chakraborty’s shoes as chairperson of the civic body. With Mrs Chakraborty ‘s election as the mayor of the BMC was a foregone conclusion, the focus today was on Mr Dutta, the MLA-turned rebel, who bowed out as the mayor of the Bidhannagar civic body following distrust expressed against him by 35 councillors of the party who unanimously wanted the Trinamul Congress leadership sack him from his post.

The Councillors’ distrust apart, his proximity to the former Trinamul-turned BJP leader Mukul Roy turned out to be the proverbial last straw as the party held him responsible for indulging in “anti-party activity and said his actions were not in consonance with the party’s discipline. The swearing-in was attended by a host of ministers and senior leaders of the party. However, Mr Dutta’s absence at the swearing-in did not go down well with the party leaders as a senior leader and state panchayat minister Mr Subrata Mukherjee nudged the former mayor. saying , “ Today’s programme was the outcome of his (the former mayor’s) frivolous activities.”

Mr Jyotipriya Mallick, state food and civil supplies minister and president of the North 24-Parganas district Trinamul said, “We hope that Krishna will work assiduously for the betterment of the people of Bidhannagar and will work taking all councillors along. We have immense faith in her. What Sabyasachi has done is abominable and not in sync with the party’s discipline. We hope that better sense will prevail and he will work for the people of the area with all sincerity.”

The swearing in of Krishna Chakraborty as mayor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation came after her predecessor Sabyasachi Dutta had put in his papers on 18 July after the party’s 35 councillors had in a meeting with the state municipal affairs minister Mr Firhad Hakim expressed resentment against him and wanted him to be sacked as he had lost the confidence of all the councillors.

Mr Dutta’s exit from the post of mayor had been written on the wall, as it were, as the former mayor had taken part in one of the INTTUC’s programmes and staged a demonstration against the state power minister Mr Sovandeb Chatterjee at the Bidyut Bhawan at Salt Lake in protest against what he called the state government’s apathetic attitude against the states’ employees regarding pending dues. He had also slammed the state power minister for not resolving the issue.