Firhad ‘resignation’ talks triggered as Didi calls urgent meet of councillors

Kolkata: Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has called for an urgent meeting of all councillors at her home amid speculation of possible widening fault lines in the party, with TMC councillors resigning en masse in several parts of Bengal, and at least one high-profile councillor quitting in Kolkata. Sources indicate that Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim has expressed his desire to step down and has formally communicated his intent to party chief Mamata Banerjee.According to sources, the emergency closed-door meeting will be held at her Kalighat home at 4pm on Friday in the presence of party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.The political turmoil follows the recent assembly election results, where BJP not only won 207 seats in Bengal but also secured 6 out of 11 assembly seats within Kolkata, with leads in 102 out of the 144 municipal wards.The internal crisis peaked following a series of controversial moves with the KMC building department issuing a demolition notice to Abhishek Banerjee's residence without the mayor's knowledge. Mayor Hakim later said it was outside his jurisdiction. Sources said that it was this incident that made Hakim feel insulted and cornered.While the KMC elections are officially slated for Dec, rules permit state govt to advance the timeline. Political analysts suggest that the newly formed state govt may bypass appointing an administrator if important resignations do happen and instead dissolve the board to push for early civic polls.Meanwhile, on Thursday, TMC was seen staging a street protest for the first time since its electoral defeat, but only three MLAs — Kunal Ghosh, Nayana Banerjee and Madan Mitra — were seen at Sealdah station, demonstrating with a handful of supporters against hawker evictions. This comes even as protests against hawker evictions were planned at Howrah, Sealdah and Ballygunge stations. In Howrah, police denied permission to TMC's protest due to a programme of CM Suvendu Adhikari, said sources. No nod came for the Ballygunge station protest either.On Wednesday, 46 out of 80 MLAs were absent from TMC's sit-in protest at assembly.