Subhankar Sarkar appointed new WBPCC prez, replacing Adhir

Kolkata: The Congress’ top leadership on Saturday appointed Subhankar Sarkar as the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), replacing its senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who lost the Lok Sabha elections this time from the Berhampore Constituency.

A statement from general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal read: “The party appreciates the contributions of the outgoing PCC President, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.”

A seven-term MP, Chowdhury lost the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the Berhampore seat to Trinamool’s candidate Yusuf Pathan, a cricketer-turned-politician.

Adhir had been in conflict with Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee who had withdrawn her offer to spare seats for Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, accusing Adhir of constantly attacking her party even as the Congress leadership wanted to maintain a political bonhomie as part of INDIA bloc ally.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee too had trained his guns at Chowdhury alleging that he was solely responsible for attempting to break whatever understanding was reached between TMC and the Congress’ top leadership to defeat the BJP in Bengal.

Chowdhury was against the idea of Congress entering into a seat-sharing agreement with TMC in Parliamentary polls and instead advocated for seat sharing with the CPI(M).

He had questioned the top leadership’s decision to ally with TMC. He had even claimed on a media channel that he would quit politics if he lost the election. Though there had been speculations of him being replaced as the Bengal Congress chief for some time now, Chowdhury was apparently leading the party’s protests over the rape and murder of a young doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. According to reports, when asked if he wanted to say anything on the appointment, Chowdhury said: “I don’t want to say anything. Anyone can become the president. The party high command has the right to choose the state party president. If it selected a party president, why would there be an issue? I have no objection.”