Sovan Chatterjee (born 7 July 1964) is an Indian politician. He is a former member of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

, and former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

of the city of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, the capital of the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

. Chatterjee served as a

Kolkata Municipal Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation (abbreviated KMC; also Calcutta Municipal Corporation) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, ...

(KMC) councilor since 1985. In 2019, he joined

, and left in 2021.

Political career

Chatterjee, a councillor in the KMC since 1985, also served as a mayor in council from 2000 to 2005, of the corporation. Chatterjee won the Behala Purba seat in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, which he retained in 2016.

Mayor of Kolkata

In 2010, he was appointed the mayor of Kolkata by his party

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress ( English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cu ...

, with Farzana Alam being appointed his deputy. He resigned from the mayor post on 22 November 2018.

Cabinet Minister

Chatterjee was made a cabinet minister in 2016. Former mayor

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya is an Indian Communist politician and lawyer. He is currently serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as Mayor of Kolkata from 2005 to 2010, heading the Ko ...

said that there was no provision in law that prevents a mayor from holding ministerial berth. With the decline in supply of cattle, India's first fully automated slaughterhouse (in Tangra area) was shut in May 2017. Chatterjee reacted by saying that he would examine the matter. In December 2016, Chatterjee became the first mayor of any city of 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 The National Security Guard (NSG), commonly known as Black Cats, is a counter-terrorism unit of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was founded on 16 October 1984, following Operation Blue Star, for combating terrorist activities and ...

commandos. In November 2014, Chatterjee was announced as the mayoral candidate of his party for the civic polls which were to be held in 2015. He was reappointed the mayor of the city in May, as his party won the polls.

Career In BJP

On 22 November 2018 he resigned from the mayor post of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. He later joined BJP on 14 August 2019. He was the observer of Kolkata Zone for West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party. On 14 March 2021 he quit BJP along with his girlfriend/Live-in partner Baisakhi Banerjee citing unhappiness over not getting assembly election WB '21 ticket in his desired place.

Views

Bhangar Power Grid

Chatterjee supports the restoration work of building the Bhangar Power Grid, which was stopped due to protests of villagers over acquisition of land. He said that outsiders with vested interests were hindering development.

Water crisis

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 were making a "mountain out of a mole hill".

Controversies

On 17 May 2021, he along with senior minister in the

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) 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 many times as a Un ...

cabinet,

Subrata Mukherjee Subrata Mukherjee (14 June 1946 – 4 November 2021) 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. H ...

, MLA and former minister

Madan Mitra Madan Mitra (born 3 December 1954) is an Indian politician, and social media sensation. 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 j ...

and

Firhad Hakim Firhad Hakim 1 January 1959) 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 ...

has been arrested by

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governme ...

from their house in connection with the

Narada sting operation 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 ...

References

External links

*
Mayor's desk, KMC Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Sovan Living people Politicians from Kolkata 1964 births Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Mayors of Kolkata West Bengal MLAs 2011–2016 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from West Bengal West Bengal MLAs 2016–2021 Former members of Trinamool Congress