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Rahul Gandhi, Kharge to meet Bengal Congress leaders to select state president today
Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge to meet West Bengal Congress leaders to select new state president as Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's tenure ends.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge will meet a number of functionaries from West Bengal in Delhi on Monday to select the next state president since Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s tenure has ended, state leaders said.
Those summoned to Delhi include Chowdhury, former state presidents Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan, senior leaders Deepa Dasmunsi, Amitabha Chakraborty, Nepal Mahato, Manoj Chakraborty and Isha Khan Choudhury, the party’s sole Lok Sabha member from West Bengal who won the Malda South seat in the parliamentary elections.
Mannan has informed the party that he will not be able to attend Monday’s meeting because of illness.
Chowdhury, who won Murshidabad district’s Berhampore Lok Sabha seat five times since 1999, was defeated by former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan fielded by Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee.
All India Congress committee general secretary K C Venugopal had earlier asked state leaders to convey their opinions on the leadership issue through e-mail 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 have called the meeting at a time when the West Bengal Congress unit is going through its worst phase since Independence. The party has no member in the legislative assembly and its organizational strength in the districts and Kolkata have reduced alarmingly. “Reviving the party in Bengal is a herculean task right now,” Bhattacharya said.
Days before the seven-phase parliamentary polls, Mamata Banerjee, whose party is part of the INDIA block, ruled out seat sharing with the Congress and the Left in West Bengal and fielded candidates from all 42 seats, of which her party won 29. The Bharatiya Janata Party won in 12 seats.
Talks on seat sharing among INDIA group partners ran into a stalemate in West Bengal months before the polls when Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders and Chowdhury said they could never have Trinamool as an ally since their parties had fought against it as well as the BJP in all recent elections. Drawing fierce criticism from Trinamool, Chowdhury repeatedly described Mamata Banerjee as BJP’s secret ally.
