Amid speculations of Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra wishing to step down after completing his remaining six-month tenure in November this year, sources in the state secretariat have confirmed News18 that chief minister Mamata Banerjee is still unwilling to let him go.
Even if not as a minister, Mitra’s services could be retained by Banerjee in some form of an advisory role to the government.
Seventy-four-year-old Mitra, who has been shouldering the finance portfolio of the state for the past decade ever since Banerjee assumed power, stayed away from the recently concluded state polls this year on the grounds of ill health.
In spite of that, Mitra was handed the finance portfolio in the third Trinamool Congress government by Banerjee and he would have to win a by-election within six months to retain that position. That terms ends on November 4 and the buzz is that Mitra’s health may not allow him to take on the heat and dust of yet another poll campaign.
Mitra had stayed away from the Bengal Assembly when the previous Mamata Banerjee government had tabled its three-month vote-on-account budget in February this year. The chief minister herself did the honours. Mitra was also absent from the House last week when Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee tabled his budget for FY 2021-22.
Sources revealed that Mitra has been making the tight rope walk of balancing the allocation of funds for many social welfare schemes of the state vis-à-vis the ever increasing outstanding debt of the government which is speculated to stand at nearly a staggering Rs 5.36 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year. The state is estimated to shell out Rs 63,700 crore towards loan repayment during the same period.
Up for this stiff challenge, Banerjee wants to rely on Mitra’s experience and acumen even if that means he is not directly involved in the affairs of the finance department. The decision on that, sources confirmed, would be taken by Banerjee closer to November and not now.
Also, Mitra has remained Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant in the GST Council and has taken a leading role in bargaining with the Centre on behalf of the non-BJP states on matters of state share in taxes and other related and contentious issues.
If Mitra chooses to stay away from the by-polls on grounds of health, he could be asked to lead an advisory body to the finance department comprising experienced officers and academics, according to sources.
The recent nod by the state Assembly to revive the Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council, which currently awaits the Governor’s assent and approvals of both Houses of Parliament, is also a step to retain services of people like Mitra, should the attempt fructify, it was learnt.
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