After a heavy defeat that ended their 15-year rule in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has reshuffled their leadership status in the Assembly. In a statement released by Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s National General Secretary, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly unanimously.
The decision comes a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced Suvendu Adhikari as the new chief minister of West Bengal. Chattopadhyay was named Leader of Opposition as Mamata Banerjee lost her Bhabanipur stronghold to Suvendu Adhikari in the recently concluded West Bengal elections and is no longer a Member of the Legislative Assembly. He was the candidate for TMC from the Ballygunge constituency assembly and won the elections with a margin of 61,476 votes. The win marked the start of his 10th stint as an MLA. He first became an MLA in 1991 and has never looked back since.
Chattopadhyay has always stayed a relevant in Bengal politics since the mid-80s when he was a member of the Indian National Congress. He was a loyal aide to Mamata Banerjee during her Congress days and later, became one of the founding members of the TMC. The labour wing of TMC, Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC), is also one of his brainchildren.
After coming to power in 2011, the TMC appointed him as the Chief Whip of the government. Following his win from Rashbehari constituency again in 2016, he was appointed as the Minister of Power and Non-Conventional Energy. In 2021, Chattopadhyay shifted his election base to the neighbouring Bhabanipur constituency and had no problem winning again. He later shifted to the Khardah constituency as he had to resign from Bhabanipur for CM Mamata Banerjee to contest the West Bengal Legislative Assembly by-election. During the third TMC govt, he was initially charged with the Ministry of Agriculture and in 2022, he was also assigned the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. In addition to that, he was also the Deputy Leader of the House from 2022.
Apart from Chattopadhyay as the LoP, the TMC also announced Asima Patra and Nayna Bandyopadhyay as the Deputy Leaders of Opposition. Firhad Hakim, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, will be Chief Whip of the opposition.
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