Former Kolkata Mayor and once a Trinamool Congress heavyweight, Sovan Chatterjee formally returned to TMC on Monday (November 3, 2025) after a 7-year break. Once a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he had also joined the opposition Bharatiya Janta Party for a brief period, but termed it a “Himalayan mistake” after leaving.
Mr. Chatterjee’s second stint with the TMC has been one of the important political homecomings ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections as the ruling party prepares to keep BJP from making gains in the State.
Mr. Chatterjee and his partner, Baisakhi Bandopadhyay formally joined the TMC on Monday in the presence of Minister Aroop Biswas and MP Subrata Bakshi at the Trinamool Bhavan in Kolkata.
The former Mayor’s return to an official position as the Newtown Kolkata Development Authority [NKDA] chairman on October 17 had already sparked political speculations about his formal return to the party.
“My roots and veins are in the Trinamool Congress. It is like my home and family, my soul is here. So, the son of the family has returned to get down on the road and fight for the party to the best of my abilities,” Mr. Chatterjee said after being formally inducted into the party.
Immediately after joining, the duo went to Kalighat to meet Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s second-in-command.
Mr. Banerjee met the duo and said that in a democracy like India, everyone has the right to choose their political party. “In between, even if he was not part of active politics, he was always in touch with our party leader [Mamata Banerjee]. It is with the party leader’s permission that Sovan Da and Baisakhi Di are back. In the coming days they will work for the Trinamool Congress,” Mr. Banerjee said.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who was also formerly a TMC leader said that both Sovan and Baisakhi are a “political liability”.
Earlier in October, Mr. Chatterjee had met with Ms. Banerjee and had also held talks with Mr. Banerjee a few weeks before that. Rumours of his formal comeback to the TMC started to do the rounds in the political circles immediately after the meetings.
A long road back home
Mr. Chatterjee served as the Kolkata Corporation Mayor from 2010 to 2018, along with being in charge of multiple ministries in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet. He was a four-time MLA of the TMC and two-time mayor of Kolkata.
He resigned from Mayor position in November 2018 and joined the BJP in August 2019. However, he left the Opposition party in 2021 after he was denied the ticket to contest the previous Assembly elections from Behala Purba, an area of residence and political stronghold. He has openly criticised his own decision to join the BJP and called it a “blunder”.
Once a close confidant of Ms. Banerjee and one of the most influential figures in Kolkata’s civic politics, Mr. Chatterjee’s fall from grace had become a subject of much speculation in political circles, particularly after his private life became a subject of public attention.
