Rahul Gandhi Kharge Bengal Congress
Leaders to Select State President
Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge are scheduled to meet key functionaries from West Bengal in Delhi on Monday to select a new state president, as Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s tenure has concluded. This critical meeting will involve discussions with various senior leaders from the West Bengal Congress unit to chart a path forward during a challenging period for the party in the state.
The leaders summoned to Delhi for this significant meeting include outgoing president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former state presidents Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan, and senior leaders Deepa Dasmunsi, Amitabha Chakraborty, Nepal Mahato, Manoj Chakraborty, and Isha Khan Choudhury. Isha Khan Choudhury is notably the party’s sole Lok Sabha member from West Bengal, having won the Malda South seat in the last parliamentary elections. Unfortunately, Mannan has informed the party that he will be unable to attend due to illness.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has represented Murshidabad district’s Berhampore Lok Sabha seat five times since 1999, was recently defeated by former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who was fielded by Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary K C Venugopal had earlier asked state leaders to convey their opinions on the leadership issue via email or text messages. “We had all expressed our opinions. I don’t know whether the top leaders want to meet us individually or collectively,” Pradip Bhattacharya said.
Gandhi and Kharge’s meeting comes at a time when the West Bengal Congress unit is experiencing its worst phase since Independence. The party currently has no members in the legislative assembly, and its organizational strength in districts and Kolkata has diminished significantly. “Reviving the party in Bengal is a herculean task right now,” Bhattacharya acknowledged.
The situation is further complicated by the dynamics of seat sharing among the INDIA alliance partners. Mamata Banerjee, whose party is part of the INDIA bloc, ruled out seat sharing with the Congress and the Left in West Bengal just days before the seven-phase parliamentary polls. Trinamool Congress fielded candidates in all 42 seats, winning 29 of them. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 12 seats.
The stalemate over seat sharing emerged months before the polls when leaders from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed their opposition to an alliance with Trinamool, citing past electoral battles against both Trinamool and BJP. Chowdhury’s repeated criticism of Mamata Banerjee as BJP’s secret ally drew fierce backlash from Trinamool, further straining relations within the INDIA bloc.
As the Congress leadership convenes to select a new state president, the focus will be on rejuvenating the party’s presence and influence in West Bengal. The chosen leader will face the formidable challenge of rebuilding the party’s organizational structure and restoring its electoral prospects in a state dominated by Trinamool and BJP.
This meeting marks a pivotal moment for the West Bengal Congress unit, and the decisions made will have lasting implications for the party’s future in the region. With Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at the helm, the Congress aims to navigate through these turbulent times and reestablish itself as a significant political force in West Bengal.
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