kolkata confidential

Friend in need
Former Kolkata Mayor and Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee was seen at the SSKM hospital, where Trinamool Congress supporters brought the ‘rape’ victim from Nandigram for treatment. And it was Mukherjee who was seen taking all the initiatives to get her admitted to the hospital. Asked about his presence among TMC people, Mukherje in his inimitable style said he always tried to stand by people who are in distress. One TMC supporter even exhorted him to come back to TMC, to which the Congress leader only smiled.

Personna non-grata?
At the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers at Eden Gardens, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the man who made cricket the most marketable commodity, was conspicuous by his absence. Grapevine in the Maidans has it that the ruling group at CAB did not even invite Dalmiya who is fighting a legal battle to clean up his image. An invitation was sent to the Rajasthan Club, which is headed by Dalmiya, requesting the club to send somebody to the match at Eden. Dalmiya, for ostensible reasons, chose not to go there.

At loggerheads
State finance secretary Samar Ghosh was recently shifted to Health department. Sources in the Writers Buildings say Ghosh, considered an efficient officer, was having a running feud with finance minister Asim Dasgupta, who did not like some of the steps he took. Things came to a crisis when one day Ghosh was summoned by the finance minister through the Officer in charge, Writers’ Buildings. At the time, Ghosh was at an urgent meeting with some officials. Taking severe exception to the summons, the officer rushed to chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb and requested him to relieve him of the finance department job.

A green hope
The IAS officers of West Bengal is now looking for a piece of land on the Maidans where they can have their own tent. For this Sunil Mitra, power secretary and president of the association met chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb and requested him to take some initiatives so that they get the permission from the Army, which is the custodian of Maidan.