The five-time Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he would like to relinquish his post as the head of West Bengal PCC. Photo: PTI
‘Neglected my sources of income, hard times ahead’: Adhir Chowdhury after loss in LS polls
TMC’s cricketer-turned-politician, Yusuf Pathan, an ‘outsider’ to the state, defeated the veteran Congressman by more than 85,000 votes in the Baharampur constituency
Congress’s West Bengal president, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a five-time MP, revealed a sense of insecurity about his political future a day after his shock defeat by the Trinamool Congress’s cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan in the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency in the state.
He told a Bengali TV channel that he was apprehensive of “hard times” for himself in the days to come.
Yusuf Pathan, a newcomer to politics and an “outsider” to the state, defeated the veteran Congressman by more than 85,000 votes.
‘No skills apart from politics’
“In my endeavour to fight this government, I have neglected my sources of income. I call myself a ‘BPL MP’. I have no other skills apart from politics. So I will have difficulties for myself in the days ahead and I have no clue how to overcome them,” admitted the 68-year-old Chowdhury.
His comprehensive defeat is a big blow to the Congress party also in West Bengal because Baharampur was one of its last strongholds in the state. The Congress is now left with only one seat in the state, the Malda Dakshin constituency.
Reconciling himself with his changed circumstances, he said he would soon have to visit Delhi to vacate his MP bungalow. He said his daughter, still doing her studies, uses the place sometimes, and he would have to find a new place in the national capital.
Wishes to resign as Congress chief in WB
On the question of whether he would continue to head the Congress party in West Bengal, he said he had earlier expressed his desire to resign from the position and had requested the party leadership to appoint someone else who would be able to do a better job. He said he had continued in the post on Sonia Gandhi’s request.
“I have received no calls from my leaders yet. I will repeat my will (desire to resign) to my party once I get that call,” said Chowdhury.
On the subject of Mamata Banerjee’s role in the INDIA alliance, he said he had never objected to the TMC’s presence in the opposition front, but he had told his party leadership that getting into an alliance with Mamata in Bengal would be equal to the Congress committing political suicide in the state.
Appeals to Mamata not to target Congress workers
Speaking about the post-poll violence and Congress workers being targeted by Trinamool, Chowdhury asked the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure that Congress workers were protected.
“The state is now conquered. What’s the point in targeting our workers now? Punish me all you want for opposing you, but leave my workers alone. They don’t deserve to be punished for supporting the Congress,” he appealed to Mamata.
Strategy of aligning with Left failed
The WB Congress chief had finalised a seat-sharing agreement with the Left in Bengal to fight the TMC and BJP in the just-concluded parliamentary elections, reportedly against the wishes of his party’s leadership in Delhi, despite the fact that the Congress, TMC, and the Left are part of the INDIA alliance.
Chowdhury has been pursuing this strategy of allying with the Left in Bengal to oppose the TMC and BJP. However, it has not been successful, given the fact that the number of seats and the vote share of the Congress-Left alliance has fallen further compared to its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
