Ex-Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee appointed NKDA chairperson

Former West Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee was on Friday appointed the chairperson of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), in what is being seen as a precursor to his return to the TMC after seven years.

Chatterjee, the former mayor of Kolkata, will replace ex-chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay in the post.

The NKDA provides civic services for the green-field city of New Town, adjacent to Kolkata.

The development came just two days after Chatterjee met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling, and barely three weeks after a closed-door meeting with TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

A close aide of the CM during the formative years of the TMC, Chatterjee quit the party in November 2018, giving up his responsibilities as a minister, mayor, and the party's organisation amid strains with the leadership. He later joined the BJP along with his partner Baisakhi Bandopadhyay, but their association with the opposition party was short-lived.

Since then, speculations about his possible ''homecoming'' had been doing the rounds.

His appointment as the NKDA chairperson is being seen in the political circles as a ''soft launch'' before his formal re-induction into the TMC ahead of next year's assembly polls.

''This is clearly a signal from the top leadership that Sovan Chatterjee is being brought back into the mainstream. His experience in governance and urban management will be valuable,'' a senior TMC leader said.

Chatterjee, who served as Kolkata's mayor from 2010 to 2018, was once one of the most influential leaders in the TMC and considered the CM's most dependable lieutenant.

After his resignation, Firhad Hakim was given most of the responsibilities he had.