India, May 14 -- Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday reinstated Kalyan Banerjee as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. The move marks a return to one of the TMC's most combative and trusted faces as the party attempts to regroup after a bruising electoral setback.

The decision was announced at Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence during a meeting attended by all party MPs, which carried the mood of a regrouping exercise as the TMC leadership sought to steady nerves after an election that dented the party's aura of invincibility.

Within the party, the move was widely viewed as more than a routine reshuffle.

While Abhishek Banerjee was retained as the party's leader in the Lok Sabha and Shata...