Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) Trinamool Congress, on Saturday, announced veteran party leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. He was elected this time from the Ballygunge Assembly constituency in south Kolkata.

Trinamool Congress General Secretary and party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, issued a statement on Saturday night announcing the name of Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition in the 18th West Bengal Assembly.​

Incidentally, the Leader of the House, by virtue of being the Chief Minister of West Bengal, is Suvendu Adhikari.​

Adhikari was sworn in on Saturday morning as the ninth Chief Minister of West Bengal and the first Chief Minister of a Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government in the state since Independence.​

Chattopadhyay was the state Agriculture Minister as well as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the last Trinamool Congress-ruled and Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Cabinet from 2021 to 2026.​

Earlier, he had also served as the state Power Minister.​

In the statement issued by the Trinamool Congress, two women have been named as Deputy Leaders of the Opposition.​

One of them is actress-turned-politician Nayna Bandyopadhyay, the Trinamool Congress legislator from Chowringhee Assembly constituency in north Kolkata, who is also the wife of veteran Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Kolkata Uttar constituency, Sudip Bandopadhyay.​

The second Deputy Leader of the Opposition, as announced by the Trinamool Congress, is Asima Patra, the party’s elected legislator from Dhaniakhali Assembly constituency in Hooghly district.​

Finally, as per the statement, Firhad Hakim’s name has been announced as the Chief Whip of the Trinamool Congress legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly.​

Hakim, popularly known as Bobby, is currently the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and was the state Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister in all three terms of the previous Trinamool Congress regime from 2011 to 2026.​

–IANS

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