Emergency meeting at Mamata's residence after Suvendu resigns as minister

After West Bengal Irrigation and Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari stepped down as minister, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee called an emergency meeting at her residence on Friday evening.

Sources said that the resignation letter of Adhikari has already been accepted by the CM and she is going to hand over the charge of the two state government departments - irrigation and transport -to other cabinet members.

The charge of transport department is likely to go to state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim while state Forest Minister Rajib Banerjee is likely to get the additional responsibility of the irrigation department.

The meeting was called on an emergency basis at Banerjee's Kalighat residence. Top party leaders, including Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi, Abhishek Banerjee and Firhad Hakim, are likely to attend the meeting.

Meanwhile, veteran Trinamool Congress leader and the party's Lok Sabha MP Sougata Roy said: "We will continue to hold talks with Suvendu Adhikari on the issue as he has not yet resigned from the party membership and as a Trinamool legislator."

"I can assure that he (Suvendu) is not going to Delhi. It is a lie that he will be meeting Mohan Bhagwat." Roy added

Earlier West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote on Twitter that Adhikari's resignation letter from his office as minister was sent to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and a copy of which was forwarded to the Governor's office as well.

"Today at 1:05 pm a resignation letter of Mr. Suvendu Adhikari from office as minister addressed to the Hon'ble Chief Minister has been forwarded to me. The issue will be addressed from the constitutional perspective," Dhankhar wrote.

On Thursday, The state transport department issued a circular saying that Adhikari was replaced by Trinamool Congress MP from Sreerampore in Kolkata's adjoining Hooghly district Kalyan Banerjee as Chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC) - a statutory body under the Government of West Bengal.The resignation comes a day after the Trinamool Congress heavyweight was replaced from the Chairman post.

Adhikari, who is one of the senior leader of TMC, has been at odds with party's top brass for a while. Speculation was rife for the past few months as Adhikari had developed distance with the Trinamool supremo.He had also taken out several public rallies in East Midnapore's Khejuri under an apolitical banner this week.

Talks between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Adhikari, who has been maintaining a distance from the party, aremained inconclusive on Monday. Veteran Trinamool MP Sougata Roy, who has been assigned with the job to hold talks with Adhikari, had met the minister on Monday evening at a place in north Kolkata.

The duo held a nearly two-hour-long discussion. This is the second meeting between the two Trinamool leaders in a week.

(with inputs from IANS)