In quite a surprise move, Congress central leadership has replaced Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury with another veteran Congress leader Somen Mitra as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president in West Bengal on Friday. Chowdhury, however, has been made the chairman of the campaign committee for the party in the state ahead of the General Elections 2019.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Ashok Gehlot issued a media release listing the changes made in the PCC (West Bengal) keeping an eye on next year’s Lok Sabha elections. It was quite a big surprise that Mitra was picked to lead the PCC in the presence of many other prominent leaders in West Bengal Congress.
For the record, Mitra headed the PCC in the capacity of president from 1992 to 1998. During this time period only, Mamata Banerjee left Congress and former her own party Trinamool Congress which later came to power in the state in 2011.
Just securing to manage one seat in the 1998 general elections, Mitra took the onus on himself for the Congress debacle and resigned from the president’s post of the PCC. Cut to 2008, Mitra left Congress and formed his own party Progressive Indira Congress, but within a year he switched to Trinamool Congress under the leadership of Banerjee, who was his bête noire till then.
The very same year, Mitra contested the Lok Sabha elections from Diamond Harbour seat and won it comfortably on a Trinamool Congress ticket. His wife Shikha Mitra was then given the Sealdah Assembly seat, which was vacated after her husband (Mitra) contested for Lok Sabha.
In 2011, Shikha started distancing herself from Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress. While drifting away from Trinamool Congress, Mitra was back in Congress in 2014 and since then he has been keeping a low profile politically. Mitra’s clout in Congress cannot be undermined as he has been in thick of things in Congress activities since the time when West Bengal was being ruled by the Left Front under Jyoti Basu.
As far as indications are concerned, this change in leadership wasn’t in the horizon and it came as a surprise. On being chosen to lead the state Congress, Mitra is now focused on increasing the support for the party. “We have to strengthen the party now otherwise we won’t get public support. So, that’s my principal task now,” Mitra said.
However, there were few other changes too. Four working presidents were nominated — Sankar Malakar, Nepal Mahato, Abu Hasim Khan Chowdhury and Deepa Dasmunshi — while Pradip Bhattacharya was made the chairman of the co-ordination committee.