Somen Mitra's homecoming spawns revival hopes in Bengal Congress

KOLKATA: There is finally some stir in the beleaguered Congress camp in Bengal . Somen Mitra’s official homecoming to the Congress is being seen as a harbinger of resurgence in the party by virtue of the fact that Mitra, still a Trinamool Congress MP, has the reputation of being the best living organiser that the state unit of the Congress has.

So who is Somen Mitra? A protégé of old Congress stalwarts like Abdul Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Mitra has been a fairly stable Congress heavyweight till he chose to ditch his mother party for the Trinamool in 2008. Mitra also is in a way the creator of the Mamata Banerjee phenomenon. It was Mitra, then the Pradesh Congress president , whom Mamata fell out with decades back and formed her own party, Trinamool Congress.

Later, when Mitra’s equation within the state Congress soured as it did with the party high command, Mitra swallowed pride to team up with Mamata, although their relationship was never actually cordial. Still, Mamata nominated Mitra from the Diamond Harbour constituency , from where he won the Lok Sabha seat in 2009.

But that’s up to which Mitra’s success in the Trinamool actually went, for he fell foul of the leadership that eventually led him to decide return to the Congress. Mitra’s worth has always been in his superb ability to muster numbers for party meetings and arm-twist electoral outcome over a narrow bandwidth.

After Mitra, the state Congress leadership did not have anyone of his stature who could conjure up a few lakhs of common supporters at any meeting , whenever required. To that extent, Mitra’s rejoining the Congress is being welcomed. His quitting Trinamool, on the other hand, hasn’t really bothered Mamata for she is a mass mobiliser par excellence anyway — the best ever in Bengal irrespective of party lines. But Mitra’s prospective return to the Congress has thrown the state unit of the party into a quandary.