Congress appoints Somen Mitra as its new state chief

Kolkata: In a major reshuffle to keep the door ajar for alliance with the Trinamul Congress, the Congress party has removed its MP Adhir Choudhury from the post of the West Bengal state Congress president ahead of Lok Sabha Elections next year.

Veteran Congress leader Somen Mitra has replaced him as the new state Con-gress president, a role he earlier served in late nin-eties. He was also elected as a Congress MLA from 1972-77 and 1982-2009.

Dissidence was growing against the Berhmapore MP in Murshidabad within the state Congress for a long time for his adamant style of running the orga-nisation and single-handed leadership, which resu-lted in many Congress MLAs switching to the Trinamul since 2011. Moreover, Mitra is known for his firm stand against joining hands with the Trinamul to stop the BJP. According to sources, Mr Choudhury was rather keen for a tie-up with the Left Front. Speculation was also rife that he might join the BJP.

On the other hand, Mr Mitra had earlier switched to the Trinamul from the Congress and was even elected as an MP from Diamond Harbour in Sou-th 24 Parganas in 2009. However, in 2014, he quit the Trinamul and resigned as MP following his differences with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Mr Mitra then returned to the Congress. But unlike Mr Choudhury, he has no objection to an alliance with Trinamul, sources indicated.

On July 6, Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the state Congress leaders including Mr Mitra and Mr Choudhury who placed their respective vi-ews before him. On Friday afternoon, a press release issued by the All India Co-ngress Committee (AICC) announced Mr Mitra’s appointment, which came as a surprise to a section of state Congress leaders. Party insiders claimed that Mr Mitra had proposed the name of Congr-ess MP Abhijit Mukherjee to the AICC for the post earlier but Mr Mukherjee refused.

The AICC statement underlined Mr Choudhury’s present role as the chairman of the campaign committee.

It said that Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya has been made the chairman of the party’s co-ordination committee. Mr Mitra said, “Strengthening the party’s organisation and helping it to stand on its feet is my priority. We need help from all. It will be wrong to take any decision on its own after becoming the party’s state president.”

However, he added, “Earlier the Congress party had an infrastructure which is absent after hitting an all-time low due to erosion. We lost people’s support. I already spoke about maintaining a distance from the Trinamul to stop the defection and erosion. If people see unity in Congress, they will repose their faith in us again. Mr Choudhury worked hard. But the united face was the need. Joining hands with the Trinamul might gift some seats to the Congress.”

Mr Mitra noted, “But the organisation will not be sustainable. It is our past experience. The number of our MLAs has dropped from 44 to below 30. A few who however left the Congress called me to congratulate me.”

Describing his removal as a ‘routine affair’ Mr Choudhury weighed Mr Mitra as an ‘experienced leader’ while vowing to continue to his fight against the Trinamul. Taking a dig at Mr Mitra’s new role state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “He might have been given the post for an alliance between the Trinamul and Congress.”