TMC heavyweight, Durga Puja patron, now a person of interest for ED: Who is Bengal minister Sujit Bose?

The differences between the two are said to have begun in the late 1990s and slowly Bose distanced himself from Chakraborty. In 1998, Mamata Banerjee, who by this point had emerged as a strong political force that could take on the CPI(M), resigned from the Congress and gathered her legion of supporters to form the TMC. In 2001, Bose joined the party and five years later contested his first Assembly election from the Belgachia-East constituency, taking on Chakraborty. But his one-time mentor eked out a narrow 1,749-vote win.

Subhash Chakraborty passed away in 2009 and Bose contested the subsequent bypoll against the CPI(M) veteran’s wife Ramala, defeating her by 28,360 votes to enter the Assembly for the first time. He won the subsequent Assembly elections and after the victory in 2001 was appointed minister for the first time. A senior TMC leader told The Indian Express that Bose played a critical role in building the party’s base in north Bengal and the portfolio was a recognition of that effort.

Throughout his career, Bose has also become synonymous with spearheading cultural activities and is particularly known for organising one of Kolkata’s biggest Durga Pujas at Sreebhumi Sporting Club in the city’s Lake Town area. One of the biggest draws during each Puja, vehicular movement on the arterial VIP Road in the city came to a halt two years ago because of the massive footfall. Last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chided Bose and threatened to “block” him if traffic along VIP Road got affected because of the Puja.

“Sab cheye dushtumi korey Sujit (Sujit is the most mischievous one). He does it (Durga puja) in such a manner that people can’t come from the airport. This time, I will tell the police to ensure that the (traffic around the) airport is not disturbed. Sujit, you will have to see to it while organising the Puja,” Mamata said.

BJP and Congress lash out

TMC leaders have been under the ED’s scanner since July 2022 when Partha Chatterjee, one of Mamata’s closest aides at one point and then a senior minister in the state government, was arrested in connection with an inquiry into the school jobs case. Since then other senior leaders such as Firhad Hakim, Anubrata Mondal, and even Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee have come under the scanner of the central agency.

The raid on Bose and the others came exactly a week after an ED team went to conduct searches at TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh’s home in North 24 Parganas district in connection with an alleged ration scam case. They were attacked by a mob of hundreds, which also manhandled accompanying CRPF personnel. The Opposition, including the Congress, the TMC’s INDIA bloc partner, said the attack was an example of the high-handedness of the local Trinamool leadership.

“Seventy TMC leaders are involved in the recruitment scam. They should all start packing their bags and I advise them to take some warm clothes,” Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday following the searches at premises linked to Bose.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who in recent days has hit out at the TMC over the offer made to his party during seat-sharing talks for Bengal, also targeted the ruling party. “This should have been done long back. They (ED and central forces) should be stern and proactive. The ED should arrest the culprits. One must keep in mind that it is a court-monitored probe.”

The TMC, however, labelled the ED action as “vendetta politics”. State Minister for Women and Child Development Sashi Panja said, “People of Bengal know that it is only a political vendetta by the Centre and the party ruling at the Centre.” Her party colleague and state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Once again, the ED is conducting raids here. This is happening through a script prepared by the BJP. The BJP cannot fight us politically. That is why they have given a list of our leaders to central agencies and asked them to harass the leaders.”