Bengal Congress chief is under pressure from within his own party and from ruling Trinamool

KOLKATA: Everything is not going well with Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the heavyweight party MP is facing pressure from within his own party and from the ruling Trinamool Congress which is all set to grab Berhampore Municipality within a day or two.

Four general secretaries of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) --Ajoy Ghosh, Kanak Debnath, Khaled Ebadullah and Manoj Pandey have recently written a letter to the Congress high command demanding removal of Chowdhury from the post of state unit president. On the other hand, fifteen Congress councillors of the Berhampore Municipality, which is Chowdhury's home town, are going to join Trinamool Congress either today or Friday. These councillors are now staying in Kolkata under Trinamool's supervision and are sure to join the ruling party either on Thursday or Friday.

Berhampore is Chowdhury's home town and he is also Congress MP from Berhampore Lok Sabha. There are 28 councillors in the Berhampore Municipality and the Congress had won 26 seats during last civic polls. Trinamool Congress had won just one seat in the civic body and another seat had gone to an independent candidate. To run the municipality, a political party needs support from 15 councillors and very recently, 15 Congress councillors have decided to join the ruling party which will enable Trinamool Congress to wrest the civic body from the Congress.

Only a couple of days back, Trinamool Congress had grabbed the Murshidabad Zilla Parishad which was being run by the Congress. Once Berhampore municipality goes to Trinamool Congress, Chowdhury will be in deep trouble.

By taking advantage of the recent political situation, four general secretaries of the Congress have demanded Chowdhury's removal from the post of WBPCC president. "A person who can't check erosion in Congress at his home district of Murshidabad, can't run the party in Bengal. Congress in Bengal will melt like an ice-cream under Chowdhury's leadership. He should be removed from WBPCC president immediately," said Manoj Pandey, one of the four general secretaries who are demanding Chowdhury's removal.

Interestingly, all these general secretaries are close aides of rebel Congress MLA Manas Bhunia who is currently confronting Congress high command by ignoring their plea to resign from the post of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman. The high command has recently slapped a show cause notice on Bhunia, asking the senior party MLA to explain within two weeks why disciplinary action would not be taken against him for ignoring the high command's instruction to step down as PAC chairman.

Congress circles here feel that it is Bhunia who has engaged his trusted leaders to write to the party high command seeking Chowdhury's removal from the post of state Congress president. But the fact remains that the state Congress president is under tremendous pressure from within his own party colleagues and from Trinamool Congress which is alll set to make his home district of Murshidabad Congress-free by this December.