Sovan Chatterjee is the sitting MLA from the Behala East seat.
Kolkata:
Ex-Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Baisakhi Banerjee resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday after the denial of ticket from Behala East seat to the former in the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls.
In his resignation letter to West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, the former Kolkata Mayor wrote, “Shiv Prakash Ji told me that the party has decided to give me a ticket from Behala West and also not to give the ticket to Baisakhi Banerjee”.
West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said the party did not want to set a contest between the estranged couple.
Speaking to ANI, Mr Ghosh said, “Sovan Chatterjee wanted a ticket for himself from Behala East and a ticket for his partner Baisakhi Banerjee from Behala West. But BJP had earlier communicated to him that only one ticket could be possible and that too for Sovan.”
“The party wanted Sovan to contest from Behala West (a seat yet to be announced) as Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded his estranged wife Ratna Chatterjee from Behala East. The party did not want to the estranged couple to contest against each other,” added Mr Ghosh.
He said the party has fielded actor Payel Sarkar from Behala East and is about to field Sovan Chatterjee from Behala West but the latter resigned on Sunday before that.
Sovan Chatterjee is the sitting MLA from the Behala East seat. Before joining BJP, he was the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and a minister in the TMC government.
Earlier on Sunday, BJP released the list of 65 candidates for the third and fourth phase of the forthcoming assembly polls in the state.
Elections to the 294-member state assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.