Taratala warehouse collapse: Why Firhad Hakim ex-aide’s arrest rings alarm bells among TMC rebels

The arrest of Hakim’s ex-aide Bandyopadhyay, known as Kali, ordered by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), has heated up state political circles, signalling that leaders of the rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction, which now include about 62 of the party’s 80 MLAs, may not be immune to action.

A TMC veteran and former minister, Hakim was known as a Mamata Banerjee loyalist before switching camps recently.

In the Assembly, Adhikari targeted Hakim’s aide over the Taratala incident. “In the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, no plan gets passed without Kali’s permission,” the CM said. “Do we not know what has been happening in the KMC? If Kali is picked up, everything will come to light.”

Bandyopadhyay, a powerful bureaucrat who rose through the state civil service and a brief stint in the police, was said to have effectively run the KMC affairs during Hakim’s multi-ministry tenure.

In 2010, Bandyopadhyay, then with the Land Revenue Department, was deputed to the KMC, of which Hakim was an influential member. Bandyopadhyay soon became a close personal aide of Hakim. In 2018, when Hakim replaced Sovan Chatterjee as the Kolkata Mayor, he named Bandyopadhyay his OSD. At the time, Hakim was also a sitting MLA and minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet.

Sources in the KMC said that since Firhad was managing multiple ministries, he could not dedicate sufficient time to his mayoral duties. So he got the municipal administration managed through Bandyopadhyay.

Adhikari took aim at Hakim too, saying the building plan for the Taratala warehouse, approved on January 17, bears the signatures of the former mayor and three KMC engineers.

On his part, Hakim has denied personal responsibility, saying, “The Mayor does not sign any building plan… or go into the details.” But the documentary evidence has given the ruling BJP fresh ammunition.

The Adhikari government has already set up panels to probe allegations of “institutional corruption” during the previous Mamata-led TMC regime. On Wednesday, Adhikari said his government is set to introduce a stringent law to confiscate and auction the assets of corrupt politicians and officials.

The TMC is currently split in two distinct camps – the Mamata camp and the rebel faction led by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee, whom Hakim joined after resigning as the KMC Mayor on June 5.

The investigation into Taratala warehouse collapse has, however, created a rare alignment of interests between the ruling BJP and the Mamata loyalists. TMC MLA from the Mamata faction, Kunal Ghosh, openly backed the CM’s aggressive stance, urging him to target the political heavyweights rather than just bureaucrats.

“We fully support the CM’s tough stand and statement. But if only four or five people are arrested, and all those in high positions are not arrested, then it won’t work. The CM said that the building plan has the former Mayor’s signature, then arrest him,” Ghosh said in the Assembly.

A day earlier Ghosh had said, “I have a request for you. Please don’t spare any of these pole-vaulters who deserted Mamata Banerjee just to save their skin and ill-gotten assets.”

By going after Hakim’s inner circle, the Adhikari dispensation is trying to “establish accountability leading to the former Mayor”, sources said.

“(Hakim) has zero friends left. The ruling BJP sees him as a high-value target to show the public their action in their anti-graft crackdown, while his former colleagues at Kalighat (Mamata’s residence-office) are actively cheering for his arrest as punishment for his defection,” a CPI(M) leader said.

On Friday, following Bandyopadhyay’s arrest, senior BJP leader and state Cabinet minister Agnimitra Paul said, “No one associated with the Taratala incident would be spared. “Apparently, Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay was the last word. But why won’t the one who was the minister, whose signature was there, be apprehended?” she said.