Originally from Chandipur in Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, Rath is the son of Hasirani Rath, a panchayat member in Chandipur. Earlier in the Trinamool Congress, Hasirani Rath later joined the BJP . An alumnus of the reputed Rahara Ramakrishna Mission boys’ high school, Rath joined the Air Force as a Short Service Commission officer. After serving for 10 years, he quit the Air Force and started working with Adhikari around 2018. Adhikari was then with the Trinamool Congress. When Adhikari moved to the BJP in 2020, he made Rath his personal assistant. After the 2021 Assembly election, Adhikari was named the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly. Rath became his executive assistant. He would manage Adhikari’s appointments and programmes and liaise with the media and MLAs. Known to be soft-spoken, Rath was close to many BJP leaders and would also interact with those in the party’s central leadership.…