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Kolkata: Sovan Chatterjee, former mayor of Kolkata and once a trusted aide of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, returned to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after seven years on Monday.
The homecoming of the veteran TMC leader becomes important as the crucial assembly elections in the state are scheduled to be held in 2026.
“You may say that the TMC is my nerve. It is my home and family. It is like a homecoming. Mamata Banerjee is our guardian. I will shoulder the responsibilities which the party assigns to me,” Chatterjee told reporters.
Speculations over Chatterjee’s return to the TMC gained ground last month after he was appointed the chairperson of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) on October 17. He replaced retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Alapan Bandopadhyay, the chief advisor to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
In November 2018, Chatterjee resigned from his ministerial positions – he headed two departments – and also quit the post of Kolkata mayor after he was pulled up by Banerjee for devoting too much time to personal affairs.
He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but left the party in 2021.
Soon after re-joining the TMC at the party’s headquarters in Kolkata, Chatterjee went to meet Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary, at the latter’s office in Kalighat.
“Chatterjee has returned to the party. In a democratic country every person has the right to join any party of his choice. Even though he was away from active politics for a few years in between, Chatterjee was in constant touch with the party supremo,” Abhishek Banerjee told reporters.
