Sovan Chatterjee | |
---|---|
শোভন চট্টোপাধ্যায় | |
37th Mayor of Kolkata | |
In office 16 June 2010 –22 November 2018 | |
Deputy | Farzana Alam (2010-15) Atin Ghosh (2015-18) |
Preceded by | Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya [1] |
Succeeded by | Firhad Hakim |
Minister of Fire &Engineering Government of West Bengal | |
In office 2011–2021 | |
Preceded by | Kumkum Chakraborti |
Succeeded by | Sujit Bose |
Constituency | Behala Purba |
Councillor,Kolkata Municipal Corporation | |
In office 2010–2022 | |
Preceded by | Sova Ghosh |
Succeeded by | Ratna Chatterjee |
Constituency | Ward No. 131 |
Personal details | |
Born | [2] Kolkata,West Bengal,India | 7 July 1964
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party (2019–2021) Trinamool Congress (1998–2019) Indian National Congress (1985–1998) |
Sovan Chatterjee (born 7 July 1964) is an Indian politician. He is a former member of Indian National Congress,Trinamool Congress,and the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has also served as the Mayor of Kolkata. Chatterjee served as a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councilor since 1985. In 2019,he joined Bharatiya Janata Party,and left in 2021.
Chatterjee,a councillor in the KMC since 1985,also served as a mayor in council from 2000 to 2005,of the corporation. [3] Chatterjee won the Behala Purba seat in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, [4] which he retained in 2016. [5]
In 2010,he was appointed the mayor of Kolkata by his party Trinamool Congress,with Farzana Alam being appointed his deputy. [3] He resigned from the mayor post on 22 November 2018.
Chatterjee was made a cabinet minister in 2016. Former mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that there was no provision in the law that prevents a mayor from holding a ministerial berth. [6] With the decline in supply of cattle,India's first fully automated slaughterhouse (in Tangra area) was shut down in May 2017. Chatterjee reacted by saying that he would examine the matter. [7]
In December 2016,Chatterjee became the first mayor of any city in India to get Z-plus security cover (the highest level of security cover in India). In that category,he would get security cover by National Security Guard commandos. [8]
In November 2014,Chatterjee was announced as the mayoral candidate of his party for the civic polls which were to be held in 2015. [9] He was reappointed the mayor of the city in May,as his party won the polls. [10]
On 22 November 2018,he resigned from the mayor post of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. He later joined BJP on 14 August 2019. [11] He was the observer of Kolkata Zone for West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sovan Chatterjee married Ratna,daughter of Dulal Chandra Das,in 2001. Together,they have one son,Saptarshi.
Since 2018,Sovan has been estranged from his wife,Ratna. He filed for divorce,citing Ratna's alleged extra-marital affair with her business partner Abhijit Ganguly,which Ratna denied. Till now,Ratna has refused to grant divorce to Sovan. [12] Citing threats to his life from Ratna,Sovan left his Behala residence &is currently residing in a Golpark flat with Baisakhi Banerjee,a university lecturer &member of TMC's teachers' unit,with whom he has been having an extra-marital affair since 2009. Ratna has blamed Baisakhi (who also left her husband Manojit Mondal within 2 months of their marriage to live with Sovan) for instigating trouble in their married life. Sovan was reportedly displeased when Dulal Chandra Das was fielded as TMC's candidate for bypolls to the Maheshtala seat in 2018,which he interpreted as party supremo Mamata Banerjee siding with his estranged wife Ratna. In November 2018,Mamata Banerjee also made Sovan resign from his positions as a Minister in her cabinet &mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation due to marital problems affecting his work, [13] which caused him to further distance himself from the party. In August 2019,Sovan,accompanied by Baisakhi,joined BJP,while Ratna continued to remain in TMC. However,Sovan wasn't much active in the party,citing lack of respect for Baisakhi. [14] In the 2021 state elections,TMC fielded Ratna Chatterjee as its candidate from Sovan's erstwhile seat of East Behala. Sovan wanted to be fielded there as the BJP candidate against his estranged wife,however the party refused and instead planned to field him in the neighbouring seat of West Behala. Citing this and the party's refusal to make Baisakhi a candidate in the elections,Sovan quit from the BJP alongside Baisakhi on 14 March 2021,2 weeks before polling began. [15]
After Sovan was arrested over the Narada sting operation,Baisakhi was recorded by the media crying before the security guards of Alipore Jail to allow her to meet him,but they refused,saying that she wasn't legally related to him. [16] But Sovan refused to meet with Ratna,who was allowed to meet him in jail.
Sovan has also made Baisakhi his legal successor for his all properties,displacing Ratna &his son Saptarshi. [17]
Chatterjee supports the restoration work of building the Bhangar Power Grid,which was stopped due to the protests of villagers over the acquisition of land. He said that outsiders with vested interests were hindering development. [18]
In May 2017,there were reports of water crisis in South Kolkata. Areas affected included Garden Reach,Watgunj,Kidderpore. Left Front councillors boycotted a monthly meeting of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to protest against the body's inability to solve the issue. About the complaints,Chatterjee said that the opposition was making a "mountain out of a molehill". [19]
On 17 May 2021,he,along with senior minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet,Subrata Mukherjee,MLA and former minister Madan Mitra and Firhad Hakim were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation from their house in connection with the Narada sting operation. [20]
The All India Trinamool Congress is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a breakaway faction from the Indian National Congress and rapidly rose to prominence in the politics of West Bengal under her leadership. Presently,it is ruling the state of West Bengal beside being the third-largest party in India in terms of number of MPs just after the BJP and INC.
Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011,the first woman to hold the office. Having served multiple times as a Union Cabinet Minister,Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress,and became its second chairperson later in 2001. She often refers to herself as Didi.
Dinesh Trivedi is an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and a former Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha (2009–19) representing Barrackpore constituency of West Bengal. Prior to that he was Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha for two separate terms. He is the former Union Minister for Railways and the former Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare under Manmohan Singh's cabinet.
Mukul Roy is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He has also served as a Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry and later Ministry of Railways during the second UPA government. Before the creation of Trinamool Congress,he was a member of Indian National Congress. Between 2017 and 2021,Roy left Trinamool Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2021,he left BJP and joined TMC.
Partha Chatterjee is an Indian politician. He earlier served as the Minister of Commerce and Industries and formerly served as the Education Minister of Government of West Bengal. He represented the Trinamool Congress. He also held the political office of Secretary General of the TMC. In 2022,he was suspended indefinitely from the party following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.
Subrata Mukherjee was an Indian politician who was cabinet minister of the government of West Bengal and sitting member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was a member of All India Trinamool Congress. He was also the 35th Mayor of Kolkata from 2000 to 2005.
Firhad Hakim is an Indian politician serving as the current and 38th Mayor of Kolkata. He is also serving as Cabinet Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Housing,Government of West Bengal. He is a MLA of the Trinamool Congress party from Kolkata Port. He is also the member of National Working Committee of All India Trinamool Congress.
Nusrat Jahan Ruhi is an Indian actress and politician who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. Beside the acting career,from 2019 to 2024,Jahan has represented as the Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha from Basirhat constituency as a Trinamool Congress candidate. Jahan's screen debut was in Raj Chakraborty's Shotru.
Madan Mitra is an Indian politician,actor from West Bengal. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress,the party's youth wing. In 1998,he joined Trinamool Congress party,founded by his colleague Mamata Banerjee,and his movie debut was in the 2023 Bengali film Oh! Lovely. In 2011,he was elected to the legislative assembly and became a state minister. He was arrested for the Sarada Chit Fund conspiracy case and got bail after 22 months.
Locket Chatterjee is an Indian actress,politician and former Member of Parliament for Hooghly,from West Bengal,India. She is also a classical dancer. She completed her training in Bharat Natyam,Kathakali,Manipuri and Creative,but is better known as an actress,in Tollywood. Previously,she was the state president of BJP Mahila Morcha,the women's wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal. Now she is a General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party,West Bengal.
Joy Banerjee is an Indian actor and politician. As an actor he is known for his work in Bengali Cinema.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in 2016 for 294 seats of the Vidhan Sabha in the Indian state of West Bengal. The All India Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee won 211 seats,and thus was re-elected with an enhanced majority. Like in the 2011 election,the poll was held in six phases,with the first phase divided into two days. The first phase was held in Naxalite-Maoist affected red corridor areas with two polling dates:4 April and 11 April. The other phases were held on 17,21,25,30 April and 5 May. The result of the election was declared on 19 May.
Dilip Ghosh is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He was the Member of Parliament representing the Medinipur constituency in Lok Sabha. He also served as one of the national vice presidents of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2021 to 2023. He served as the 9th president of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1996. The election took place simultaneously with the 1996 Indian general election. This was the last election Jyoti Basu contested,as he retired from politics in 2000.
The Narada sting operation was a sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel targeting high-ranking officials and politicians of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). It showed several politicians and a high-ranked police officer accepting cash bribes in exchange for providing unofficial favors to a company.
Sonali Guha is an Indian politician from the state of West Bengal. Guha is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician. She was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Satgachhia for four terms to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and was the first female deputy speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly as a member of the Trinamool Congress. Later she joined Bharatiya Janata Party after she was denied a ticket to contest the 2021 assembly elections. Now she is again interested to join TMC after the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Elections 2021 results.
The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election was the 17th quinquennial legislative election held in West Bengal,to elect all 294 members of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. This electoral process of 292 seats unfolded between 27 March to 29 April 2021,taking place in eight phases. Voting for the two remaining constituencies was delayed to 30 September 2021.
Biswajit Das is an Indian politician from the All India Trinamool Congress party. In May 2021,he was elected as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Bagdah constituency. He ran for the office as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and defeated Paritosh Kumar Saha of All India Trinamool Congress by 9,792 votes in 2021 West Bengal Assembly election,but returned to the All India Trinamool Congress later in 2021.
The 2021 Kolkata Municipal Corporation election was held on 19 December 2021 to elect 144 members of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) which governs Kolkata,the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. A total of 40,48,357 electors were eligible to vote in the election. The results were announced on 21 December.
West Bengal School Service Recruitment Scam is an ongoing education SSC scam in West Bengal,India since 2022. The scam is being currently investigated jointly by Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate. The scam was revealed,following the arrest of Partha Chatterjee,a Trinamool Congress leader,who has served as the Minister of Education in the Mamata Banerjee's cabinet until his arrest on 23 July 2022.