Mamata Banerjee's Ex-Close Aide Sovan Chatterjee Returns. What It Means for Trinamool

Former Kolkata Mayor and minister Sovan Chatterjee, once a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has made a comeback to the administration after seven years. His return is being seen as a significant political move for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), especially at a time when the party is facing challenges.

On Friday evening, a notification from the West Bengal government announced that Sovan Chatterjee had been appointed chairman of the Newtown Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) until further orders. The NKDA is a statutory body responsible for the development and civic work of the Newtown area under the NKDA Act, 2007. Since the township does not fall under any single municipality, NKDA essentially acts as its civic authority. The post has previously been held by senior bureaucrats Debashish Sen and Alapan Bandopadhyay.

The appointment marks Chatterjee's official return to a government role since he cut ties with the Trinamool Congress in 2018. His comeback followed two back-to-back meetings, first with TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, and later with party chairperson Mamata Banerjee.

In November 2018, Sovan Chatterjee resigned as the minister of Housing and Fire Services, and two days later stepped down as Kolkata Mayor. At the time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters that he had expressed his wish to resign several times before she finally accepted his resignation and asked him to quit the mayor's post as well.

At that time, Sovan Chatterjee's marital discord had grabbed headlines. With the minister making allegations against his wife, Ratna Chatterjee, now a TMC MLA from the same constituency Sovan had won from, their divorce was a public spectacle with twists and turns. This was the primary reason why the party had let go of Sovan who was tied up in marital discord and his relationship with Baishakhi Banerjee, who had also stepped down as teacher-in-charge of Milli-Al-Amin alleging harassment from a section of TMC-backed government teachers.

In 2019, Sovan Chatterjee, a four-time TMC MLA, joined the BJP along with Baishakhi Banerjee in New Delhi in the presence of JP Nadda. However, he was not given a ticket to contest the 2021 state elections. Things began to shift again in 2023, when he visited Mamata Banerjee's residence on Bhai Dooj, signalling a thaw in relations. By then, there had been both political and personal shifts in Chatterjee's life. 

Following his latest appointment, BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar declined to comment, saying, "It is the state government's decision to appoint him, I have nothing to say."

TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar, however, welcomed Chatterjee's new role, saying his experience would benefit the administration. "His joining as NKDA chairman would benefit the administration with his previous experience," he said.

Even though Chatterjee hasn't been officially reinstated into the Trinamool Congress since the acrimonious exit, political experts believe it's only a matter of time.

Speaking to NDTV, analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay, political science professor at Bangabasi College Kolkata said, "Sovan Chatterjee is a veteran and seasoned politician. He knows the organizational structure of the TMC better than most of the leaders. He has a very sound knowledge regarding administrative works of civic bodies. After the RG Kar movement, TMC's urban support may face a challenge. In that scenario a strategic change of face in the urban scenario would help the party to regain enough confidence."