Prominent among those who said a polite no are theatre activist Bibhas Chakraborty and Kolkata police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborti.

Mamata’s “committee of experts” had names from all walks of life, including noted writers, journalists, actors and even Kishwar Jehan, the mother of Rizwanur Rehman, the computer graphics teacher found dead by the side of railway tracks two years ago. The informal announcement about the names were made when Mamata nominated her Mayor and distributed other top KMC portfolios.

The Trinamool chief’s list also includes Tollywood actors like Ranjit Mullick, Chiranjeet, Supriya Devi, Debashree Roy, Sandhya Roy, filmmaker Sandip Ray and Haranath Chakraborty, painter Jogen Choudhury, scientist Sujoy Basu, statistician Amiyo Choudhury, sports personalities Gurbux Singh, Nayeemuddin, representatives from chambers of commerce and media personalities.

Many like Bibhas Chakraborty and Gautam Mohan Chakraborti were of the view that they were not informed or consulted before Trinamool leaders decided to make the list public. “I was not informed or consulted before they announced my name. I only saw it appear in the media. I have no intention of joining. My health is not doing well. I do not think I will be able to do justice,” said Bibhas Chakraborty. Gautam Mohan Chakraborti said, “I am a government servant. I cannot just join any advisory committee. Only if the government asks me to do so, I can.” Justice (retd) Chittotosh Mukherjee said, “They did not bother to ask be before announcing my name. I do not think I will join.”

Trinamool’s Subrata Mukherjee, who is the chairman of the committee, said, “It is the party which chose the names. As a chairman, I will like to have the opinion and advice of everyone including renowned names on how to develop our city Kolkata.”