Amid high drama and clashes over a board meeting of West Bengal’s Bongaon municipality called on Tuesday to debate a no-confidence resolution, both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed to have proved their majority.
Of the 22 members of the municipality in the North 24 Parganas district, 20 belonged to the Trinamool and one each to the CPI-M and the Congress. But shortly after the BJP’s victory in the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, 11
Trinamool councillors shifted their allegiance to the BJP and claimed that the Trinamool-run board had been reduced to a minority.
They also approached the high court claiming that the no-confidence resolution moved by them was rejected by the Chairman, and the state government was planning to appoint an administrator to run the civic body.
A special board meeting of the municipality was scheduled on Tuesday to take up and vote on the resolution.
But the situation became tense in the afternoon when the police allegedly stopped two rebel councillors from entering the municipality on the pretext of non-bailable charges against them.
The BJP supporters and activists clashed with the police, broke the barricade and pelted stones at houses and shops in the area, accusing the cops of working at the behest of the ruling party.
Police carried out a baton charge to disperse the crowd.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool councillors claimed they had retained control of the municipal board as the rebel councillors failed to attend the board meeting within the scheduled time of 3 p.m.