Overview
- A government order announced Chatterjee as New Town Kolkata Development Authority chair, succeeding Alapan Bandopadhyay, with the appointment effective until further orders.
- The decision came roughly 48 hours after Chatterjee met the chief minister in Darjeeling, following an earlier closed-door meeting with Abhishek Banerjee.
- NKDA oversees civic services for New Town on Kolkata’s eastern fringes, and Chatterjee is reported to be the first non-bureaucrat to head the body since its creation.
- Party leaders and political observers describe the post as a tactical first step toward his potential re-entry into the Trinamool Congress and an electoral role next year, though no formal rejoining has been announced.
- Chatterjee, a former Kolkata mayor and state minister, left TMC in 2018, joined the BJP in 2019, quit in 2021 after being denied a ticket, and was arrested by the CBI in the Narada case that same year.