had several runins with his own party once quitting the left government in 1993 after calling it choreder sarkar bhattacharjees partner suchanda mukherjee is a media professionalweve been friends since our primary school days she has been supportive and protective it was in 2004 that we understood we were more than friends marriage is not a priority due to space constraints we shifted to a flat in the same building on palm avenue where my parents live it was my grandmothers flat in 2014 we shifted to a flat on sarat ghosh garden road bhattacharjee said her neighbours she says keep a respectable distance when i am harassed they dont really come forward to stand by us my partner is heterosexual she is often asked why she lives with a transman people cant differentiate between a trans man and a lesbian they need to be educated actor ushasie chakraborty daughter of cpm leader shyamal chakraborty said i have known suchetana since my childhood we grew up as siblings i am very proud she has taken this step i have a specialisation in gender studies and am part of the left organization called democratic association of lgbtqia i was present at the workshop she had some questions on how to change her name we gave her advice on that director and left activist saron dutta told toi this is a big step not just for the lgbtqia community but also the indian political space it will send a strong message to the political world sudeb suvana a transgender who also attended the workshop said this will give a lot of courage to many to come out and impact policymakers too