Former West Bengal schooling minister and suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Partha Chatterjee, who’s on bail within the 2022 instructor recruitment rip-off case, seems to be on the point of a political comeback with meeting elections simply weeks away.
In keeping with Congress stories, hypothesis is rife over the incumbent TMC MLA from Kolkata’s Behala Pashim. He has not too long ago been inducted into key committees of the West Bengal Legislative Meeting, together with Housing, Fireplace and Emergency Providers Committee, Catastrophe Administration Committee and Library Committee.
“In keeping with parliamentary guidelines, the Prime Minister, ministers and Chief of Opposition can’t be members of standing committees or committees of the Home.After changing into an MLA for the primary time in 2001, Partha Chatterjee grew to become a member of a number of Home committees.Nonetheless, in 2006, the Opposition “After he grew to become celebration president and the TMC got here to energy in 2011, he was not a member of any Home committee on account of his lengthy tenure as a minister. He returned to the Congress committee as he isn’t at the moment a part of any ministry,” a TMC chief mentioned.
However Chatterjee, 73, retains a low profile. Individuals near him say he speaks solely by means of household telephones, avoids public contact and warns his supporters to not crowd of their houses or places of work.
However for Behala Passim, confusion amongst his supporters seems to have turned to disappointment. His supporters, who had reopened the MLA coordination workplace within the constituency in hopes of his return, seen the group thinning as aides reportedly suggested in opposition to “pointless visibility”.
A detailed aide of the previous TMC stalwart mentioned, “We’re hopeful that Dada (Chatterjee) will combat from Behala Paschim within the upcoming Meeting polls. He has contributed a lot for Behala that even after the varsity job rip-off incident, we nonetheless consider that the folks of Behala is not going to reject him if he joins arms and stands earlier than the folks looking for votes.”
“However whether or not Mr. Partha da will combat on a TMC ticket or as an impartial is one thing he himself has not clarified but. He has not taken any determination thus far (about returning to mainstream politics), however he We’re in contact with Behala leaders, who have been very near him. We’re simply ready for his final phrases now,” Chatterjee’s colleague mentioned, including that his candidacy as an impartial is dependent upon the help of native TMC leaders.
On the problem of reversing Chatterjee’s suspension and resuming his actions within the TMC, a senior celebration official mentioned, “The ultimate determination will probably be taken by Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Nobody however them can formally say something about Partha Chatterjee becoming a member of the TMC.”
From TMC stalwarts to the corners of Bengal politics
As soon as a trusted lieutenant to Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Chatterjee’s decline has been speedy. In 2022, when the money recruitment rip-off allegations surfaced, he was stripped of his publish as TMC basic secretary, expelled from the state cupboard and suspended from the celebration.
In July 2022, throughout an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into allegations of irregularities within the appointment of presidency lecturers in colleges in Bengal in 2016, when Chatterjee was the state schooling minister, the central company recovered over Rs 500 crore in money from the condo of Arpita Mukherjee, mentioned to be an in depth aide of Chatterjee. Shortly after, Chatterjee was arrested by the ED.
The TMC authorities subsequently eliminated him from the state cupboard and the celebration suspended him.
In September final yr, after being imprisoned for greater than three years, he was granted conditional bail by the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom, however couldn’t stroll out of jail on account of Supreme Courtroom orders to border prices and file witness statements in pending instances. The final eight witnesses recorded their statements in November, after which a particular Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court docket ordered Chatterjee’s launch.
Chatterjee has been mendacity low since his launch on November 11, 2025. He not too long ago mentioned he would seem earlier than the Legislature’s Price range Committee, the final legislative session earlier than state elections scheduled for March-April. “Life shouldn’t be over. A fish can’t keep out of water (referring to staying away from politics). I got here to politics with an ideology. I’m not right here to generate profits. I need to be with the folks. That’s Mamata Banerjee’s ideology,” he added.
