Partha Chatterjee (politician)

Partha Chatterjee (born 6 October 1952) is an Indian politician. He earlier served as the Minister of Commerce and Industries and formerly served as the Education Minister of Government of West Bengal. He represented the Trinamool Congress. He also held the political office of Secretary General of the All India Trinamool Congress. In 2022, he was suspended indefinitely from the party following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.

Early life
Chatterjee was born in Calcutta. He attended Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur though some former students of the Mission claimed that he was only there for a year, after which he was given a transfer certificate.

He studied economics from Asutosh College and completed his MBA from IISWBM.

Political career
Chatterjee worked as an HR professional with Andrew Yule.

He was elected as an MLA from Behala Paschim in 2001, and subsequently re-elected from the same constituency in 2006. In 2011 he won by a margin of 59,021 votes. He was Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.

In the 2016 and 2021 West Bengal assembly elections he was re-elected from the same constituency.

He was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 20 May 2011 and allotted the portfolios of Commerce and Industry, Public Enterprises, Information Technology and Electronics and Parliamentary affairs.

He was nominated as deputy leader of the house in 2011. After the Assembly election 2016, he became the Minister-in-Charge of Higher Education and School Education Department, West Bengal Government and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Public Enterprises, Information Technology and Electronics replaced by Amit Mitra.

Controversy
On 23 July 2022, Chatterjee was arrested from his residence by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged State School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam cases along with his aide actress Arpita Mukherjee. He was admitted to SSKM Hospital after complaining of chest pains. Later, he was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar where doctors said that he suffers from chronic diseases but does not need immediate hospitalization. He is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate. As of 28 July 2022, the Enforcement Directorate has recovered ₹498 million(US$ 5.96 million) cash, gold worth ₹70 crore(US$ 8.3 million), ₹5.6 crore(US$ 670K) worth foreign currency and coded diaries from properties related to him and Arpita Mukherjee.

On 28 July 2022, he was removed as the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Information Technology and Electronics and Parliamentary Affairs and suspended from the All India Trinamool Congress. On 5 August 2022, he and his aide Arpita Mukherjee were sent to jail custody. He is still under trial, but the people of his state proclaim him as a thief as they use the slogans "পার্থ চোর " (Partha is a thief)