No Special Room for Partha in Assembly, Will Sit Like Any MLA: Bengal Speaker

PTI, Kolkata, Nov 26, 2025 : Three years after being jailed in the teachers' recruitment scam, suspended TMC heavyweight Partha Chatterjee may return to the Assembly this winter session, but "only as a common member", Speaker Biman Banerjee said on Wednesday, ruling out any special room or privilege.

The Speaker's clarification, delivered after the Constitution Day event at the House, cut through days of political chatter over the former minister's impending reappearance in the Assembly, a building where Partha once strode in as Mamata Banerjee's trusted general.

"Parthababu is no longer a minister to qualify for an exclusive room. He is now only a member. Whatever facilities ordinary MLAs get, he will get the same," the Speaker told reporters, shutting the door on speculation that the ex-minister might reclaim his old suite.

Chatterjee walked out of jail earlier this month after three years, three months, and 19 days in custody, following his 2022 arrest by the ED in the school recruitment scam.

His fall from the TMC's top tier was swift: he lost the general secretaryship, was suspended from the party for six years, and was dropped from the cabinet.

Yet, his release has instantly stirred a political buzz, with questions on whether he will attend the winter session, whether he will speak, and whether his Behala Paschim base, which elected him five times, will rally behind him ahead of the 2026 election.

But even as political circles debated his next steps, Chatterjee has retreated into near-complete seclusion at his Naktala residence, Vijayketan.

After meeting well-wishers for two days, he has shut his doors to all but a handful of intimates. Visitors say he talks only through family members' phones, avoids public contact, and has warned supporters against crowding the house.

That withdrawal has stunned Behala Paschim, where his followers had, prematurely, begun reopening his MLA coordination office at Manton, expecting him to resume constituency work.

The small crowds that gathered there initially thinned after close aides reportedly advised against "unnecessary visibility".

The disquiet is sharper among senior district leaders.

"Behala Paschim made him what he is. Even if the party suspended him, the people didn’t," said a veteran South Kolkata TMC leader. "After three years of absence, he should have come personally and apologised to the voters instead of only circulating leaflets."

Indeed, the constituency's patience had frayed: during his incarceration, Behala Paschim residents complained they received virtually no services from their MLA, even as recruitment scam allegations stained his legacy.

Meanwhile, questions linger in the Assembly Secretariat.

Though media reports flagged his release, Chatterjee has not yet formally informed the Secretariat. Without this, officials cannot allot him a seat as an independent MLA or process the application required to restore his suspended MLA salary, frozen since his arrest.

On the day of his release, Chatterjee had announced he wished to speak for a day in the House during the winter session, a statement that triggered speculation of a political re-entry, maybe even a future independent bid if TMC denies him a ticket.

For now, however, the former minister's comeback remains clouded in ambiguity: a silent house in Naktala, a thinning crowd in Behala, and an Assembly seat waiting, but without the room he once occupied at the height of his power.