Dasmunsi new Bengal Cong chief?

A formal decision is yet to be taken by president Sonia Gandhi. But consultations with other state players have taken place and decks cleared, reports Saroj Nagi.

Will Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi be the new PCC chief in West Bengal as the party prepares for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls? A formal decision is yet to be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But consultations with other state players have taken place and the decks cleared.

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Dasmunsi’s pluses? He is a grassroots person with organisational strength and electoral appeal. He is seen as anti-Left and shares a rapport with Trinamool’s Mamata Bannerjee with whom the Congress may join forces for the Lok Sabha polls. The question is whether he can be spared at the Centre.

On Monday, Dasmunsi met Mohsina Kidwai, AICC leader in charge of West Bengal . Some weeks back she had conferred with him, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee — who had quit as state chief after the 2006 West Bengal assembly polls — and other state leaders.