Pranab Mukherjee’s son set to join Congress on Friday

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s eldest son Abhijit has decided to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious father. The Mukherjee scion will join the Congress on Friday to contest the West Bengal elections from Nalhati, the family’s ancestral constituency in Birbhum district.

Fifty- two- year- old Abhijit was the general manager in the corporate social responsibility department at the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) headquarters in New Delhi, before he resigned from the job to join active politics.

The Congress has been on the lookout for dynamic leaders in West Bengal to root out the ruling Left Front government and is keen to introduce Abhijit into the fray. Senior party leader Pradip Bhattacharjee confirmed the news on Friday.

The Mukherjees hail from Mirati village near Kirnahar in Birbhum. Nalhati is the ancestral home of the finance minister.

Though Mukherjee had never contested an election from this constituency, Congress workers want to field the former SAIL officer from Birbhum where the party has a very weak base. Of the 12 seats, the Congress has only one MLA in the district.

The party wants to cash in on the goodwill and respect the family enjoys in the district. Pranab Mukherjee’s father Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was a veteran Congress worker, who was very close to the freedom fighter C. R. Das and Mahatma Gandhi.

A respected freedom fighter who spent more than 10 years in prison for his opposition to British rule, Kamada Kinkar was an AICC member and served as an MLA from 1952 to 1964. He was also the president of the Birbhum district Congress.

Party members are hopeful that riding on his grandfather and father’s political image, Abhijit would be able to make a difference to the Congress’s fortunes in the upcoming assembly polls.