Congress set to have 2 members in Lower House of Parliament from Bengal

Kolkata: It is for the first to since Independence that the Congress party will have two members in the Lower House of Parliament from Bengal.

Congress candidates Adhir Chowdhury from Berhampore Lok Sabha seat and A H Khan Choudhury from Malda South are leading. In two other seats— Murshidabad and Jangipur — Congress candidates are trailing. Trinamool Congress had fielded Apurba Sarkar, an aide of Adhir Chowdhury and Congress MLA from Kandi, who left the Congress and joined the party against Chowdhury.

Though the lead of Chowdhury, who had won the seat by 3.56 lakh votes, has come down substantially but he is still able to maintain his lead.

Over the past two decades Chowdhury came out as the most powerful leader of Murshidabad. He was the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress.

Trinamool Congress appointed Suvendu Adhikari, the state Transport minister, to look after Murshidabad and Adhikari very successfully brought the district under the party's control. In the Panchayat election in 2018, the Trinamool got control over the Zilla Parishad. The municipalities in the district are also under the TMC. In the past one year, Chowdhury has been cornered politically.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) replaced Chowdhury by Somen Mitra as PCC chief. Chowdhury is known to be political rival of Mitra and had pleaded strongly for alliance with the CPIM, which was turned down by AICC.

But despite being cornered, Chowdhury continue to nurture his Lok Sabha seat and this has paid him dividend.

Trinamool Congress alleged that Chowdhury had secretly struck a deal with RSS who helped him to consolidate his vote. However, he failed to have his control over Jangipur and Murshidabad.

In Jangipur, Abhijit Mukherjee ranked third while Khalilur Rahaman of Trinamool Congress is leading.

Mafuza Khatun, who joined the BJP from CPIM is holding the second position.

In Murshidabad, Abu Taher Khan of Trinamool Congress is leading. The Lok Sabha poll of 2019 has clearly shown that Chowdhury's control over Murshidabad is over.