After Meeting Didi, Sovan Chatterjee Gets Govt Post, Set to Rejoin TMC

Kolkata: In a dramatic political development in West Bengal, former Kolkata Mayor and ex-state minister Sovan Chatterjee, who had defected from Trinamul Congress to BJP six years ago but walked out later, has made a comeback to chief minister Mamata Banerjee's fold.

On Friday, Mr Chatterjee was appointed as the Chairman of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority, a body under the state municipal affairs and urban development department. The post was earlier held by former state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, who is also the chief advisor to the CM.

Mr Chatterjee's new innings started two days after his confidential meeting with the Trinamul Congress supremo at Richmond Hill in Darjeeling during her North Bengal visit. It has also fuelled speculations of his fresh contest to the upcoming Assembly Election on a TMC ticket upon returning to his roots.

Known as a TMC’s organizational face in South 24 Parganas, Mr Chatterjee served as a Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillor from 1985, became Kolkata Mayor twice and an MLA four times and was a cabinet colleague with multiple portfolios and close aide of Ms Banerjee till he quit as a minister and mayor on her order in November of 2018.

The TMC heavyweight was asked to resign from the government posts as his marital discord became public and left his party stumped. During his stint in TMC, Mr Chatterjee, along with many of his party MPs, was however caught accepting bribes in cash in the Narada sting operation case in 2016 which threw his political career in soup as he was probed by the various central agencies.

In August of 2019, Mr Chatterjee joined the BJP in New Delhi alongwith his close friend Baishakhi Banerjee with a hope to fight the TMC in the Assembly Election in 2021. He was however denied a ticket. In March of 2021, Mr Chatterjee left the BJP also. Since then, he maintained his rapport with the TMC chief by visiting her on occasions.