India, Oct. 19 -- The return of Sovan Chatterjee, former Kolkata mayor and once-disgraced Trinamool Congress heavyweight, has stirred the calm within Bengal's ruling party. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's decision to appoint him as Chairman of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) a top civic post overseeing the fast-growing township has triggered admiration, intrigue, and quiet unease within the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The appointment, announced barely 48 hours after Chatterjee's private two-hour meeting with Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling, is being viewed as a politically loaded act a blend of reconciliation, retribution, and recalibration. For many within the TMC, it signals the rehabilitation of an old loyalist. It is a...