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Kolkata: Former West Bengal minister and ex-Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee has returned to Trinamul Congress with his close friend Baishakhi Banerjee after a gap of seven years. He is expected to contest the upcoming Assembly Election on a TMC ticket from a seat in his home turf: Behala.The political heavyweight’s comeback became certain following his recent meeting with chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling and his subsequent appointment as the chairman of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority under the state urban development department.Mr Chatterjee, who had stepped down as a cabinet colleague of Ms Banerjee and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor in November of 2018 following her order and later defected to BJP before his exit within a few months, was welcomed back to TMC by its state president Subrata Bakshi and sports minister Aroop Biswas.Mr Chatterjee said at the party office, “TMC is my pulse. It is my home and family. So this is a homecoming to me as a son. Mamata Banerjee is our guardian. I will shoulder whatever responsibilities the party entrusts me with.”Mr Chatterjee’s estranged wife Ratna Chatterjee, who is a TMC MLA of Behala East, a seat where her husband was an MLA till 2021, also welcomed his re-entry to TMC. “He should stay healthy and work for the people. If our party decides to make him a candidate in my seat next, I won't have anything to say on that.”Mr Chatterjee later met young TMC MP and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at his residence in Kalighat. Mr Banerjee said, “Mr Chatterjee has made a comeback to our party. Everyone has the right to join any party of his choice in a democratic country. Though Mr Chatterjee was away from active politics for some years, he stayed in constant touch with our party supremo.”
