India, Oct. 17 -- Former West Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee was appointed chairperson of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) on Friday, amid indications that the former Kolkata mayor was headed back to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Sovan Chatterjee had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in August 2019, months after he was told to step down as cabinet minister and Kolkata mayor in November 2018. But he exited the BJP in March 2021 after being denied a ticket from the Behala Purba assembly seat in the state elections.

Chatterjee's appointment as NKDA chairperson on Friday comes 48 hours after he flew to north Bengal to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee while she was touring areas affected by the October 5 landslid...