Dissident minister Suvendu Adhikari quits Mamata cabinet

Kolkata, Nov 27 : A day after West Bengal Irrigation and Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari was replaced from the post of Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC), the Trinamool Congress heavyweight from East Midnapore on Friday tendered his resignation as minister from the Mamata Banerjee-led state cabinet.
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.
The state transport department on Thursday 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 state government circular read: “In exercise of the power conferred by Sub-Section (3) of Section 3 of The Hooghly River Bridge Act, 1969 (West Bengal Act of XXXVI-1969), the Governor is pleased to appoint Shri Kalyan Banerjee, Honourable MP, as the chairman of the HRBC with immediate effect and until further orders.” Established in 1969, HRBC was mandated with the construction of the iconic Vidyasagar Setu, an engineering marvel over the river Hooghly that was inaugurated in 1992 as the longest cable-stayed bridge in the country.