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Shovandeb vacates Bhowanipore seat paving way for Mamata to contest bypoll

A party insider said that Mr Chattopadhyay may be made a Rajya Sabha MP as Dinesh Trivedi who was made Rajya Sabha member in 2020 resigned this year and joined the BJP before the Assembly elections.

Shovandeb vacates Bhowanipore seat paving way for Mamata to contest bypoll

(Image: Facebook/sayandc15)

Shovandeb Chattopadhyay, the state agriculture minister, today resigned as Bhowanipore MLA, paving the way for state chief minister Mamata Banerjee to contest the bypoll from her old seat.

Miss Banerjee, who lost in the Assembly election to Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram Assembly constituency by a small margin, needs to get reelected to the Assembly within six months to retain the chief minister’s post.

While tendering his resignation to Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee at his chamber in the state Assembly, Mr Chattopadhyay said, “I’ve been thinking over the past few days that Mamata Banerjee should contest from Bhowanipore and I should tender my resignation so that after six months of her tenure as chief minister she can contest from her old seat.”

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He said there were no instructions from the party for him to vacate the seat “but I thought for the sake of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee should become chief minister.”

A party insider said that Mr Chattopadhyay may be made a Rajya Sabha MP as Dinesh Trivedi who was made Rajya Sabha member in 2020 resigned this year and joined the BJP before the Assembly elections. However, Mr Chattopadhyay is yet to resign from the post of agriculture minister. As per the rules, he can be a minister for six months without contesting the election again.

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