After seven years of being ousted from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), former Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee is back in a top civic body post in Kolkata. This comes days after he met with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which led to rumours about his formal comeback into the State’s ruling party right before the 2026 State Assembly elections.
“In exercise of power conferred by sub-Section (3) of Section 3 of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority Act, 2007, the Governor is pleased to appoint Shri Sovan Chatterjee as Chairman, Newtown Kolkata Development Authority [NKDA], until further order,” a formal order from the Government of West Bengal said on Friday (October 17, 2025).
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Notably, former Chief Secretary Alapan Bandhopadhyay used to hold the NKDA chairman position before Mr. Chatterjee was appointed in his place. Mr. Chatterjee met with Ms. Banerjee in North Bengal three days back on Wednesday (October 15). He had also met Abhishek Banerjee, the second in command in TMC, a few weeks before meeting Ms. Banerjee.
This official post back in his second stint with the TMC as the chairman of NKDA has been observed by many as a soft launch back into the ruling party in the State.
