Keen to get back to active politics: Partha Chatterjee

Kolkata 

Former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee said that he is keen to get back to active politics even though he has been suspended from the primary membership of Trinamool Congress. Mr. Chatterjee, the key accused in the cash-for-school-jobs scam, was released on bail on Tuesday after spending three years in jail.

Speaking to a local media channel, Mr. Chatterjee said he wants to return to work. “Life is not over. A fish cannot stay away from water [referring to him staying away from politics]. I came to politics with an ideology, I am not here to make money. I want to stay with the people, which is the ideology of Mamata Banerjee,” he said.

He added that even if the party has ousted him, he will stay with the party. Mr. Chatterjee, who is an elected MLA from Behala Paschim, said he has not decided whether to head back to the Assembly immediately. However, he said, he will meet the people of his constituency in the next few days and assure them of his responsibility.

“I have been with the party for 25 years. We built the party together,” Mr. Chatterjee added. However, he clarified that no senior TMC leadership has approached him after his release from prison.

Ahead of the 2026 Assembly election, political reconciliations are in progress in the State’s ruling party. Another estranged senior TMC leader Sovan Chattopadhyay also made an official comeback to the party a week ago after a gap of seven years.

Like Mr. Chattopadhyay, Mr. Chatterjee was also a close confidant of Ms. Banerjee, and held multiple Ministries in the Cabinet until he was relieved of his duties following his arrest.

Mr. Chatterjee was arrested on July 23, 2022, after the Central agency seized cash and jewellery worth ₹20 crore from the residence of his associate, Arpita Mukherjee.

A week after his arrest, he was suspended from the Trinamool Congress and was relieved from his Ministerial responsibilities.