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| Race begins for WBPCC chief post | | 'Boisterous boy', Dasmunsi, emerges front-runner | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, JULY 28: The word 'election' does exist in the Congress party's lexicon. But it is the word 'selection', which has more often than not been made use of by the party's high command. No wonder, eyes are focused on the Congress supremo, Sonia Gandhi, as far as the question of making available a new chief for the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC).
Eyes, at the same time, are also focused on Sonia's 'boisterous boy', Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, who is currently a Cabinet Minister in the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre. Dasmunsi has emerged front-runner in the race for the post of the Congress party's West Bengal State unit president.
The party's West Bengal unit has been virtually headless since the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, resigned from the post owning responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the Assembly polls in May this year. Mukherjee, however, continues to head the State unit since his resignation is yet to be formally accepted.
Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, is likely to appoint Priyaranjan Dasmunsi to the post along with the induction of some new office-bearers in the party's central leadership next month. The Congress party managed only 21 seats in the 293-member West Bengal Legislative Assembly and is currently in dire need of a dynamic leader to strengthen it. Dasmunsi is considered the right man for the job.
Congress circles feel that Dasmunsi would be better placed to take on West Bengal's ruling Left Front than Mukherjee considering he is not dependent on the Marxists to win his Lok Sabha seat. While Dasmunsi was elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth term in 2004, Mukherjee entered the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004, that too with tactical support of the Marxists.
"Besides being soft to the Left Front, Mukherjee could never reconcile to his appointment as the State unit chief as he viewed it as a punishment posting," a senior Congress leader from West Bengal said. Mukherjee was national general secretary of the Congress party when Sonia sent him to Kolkata in August 2000. He, however, failed to prop up the party's fortunes as the party under him kept hitting lows. While it won 82 seats in the 1996 Assembly polls in West Bengal, the figure came down to 26 in 2001 polls and plummeted further in May this year.
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi is currently holding twin portfolios as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minister for Information and Broadcasting. In addition, he is also president of the All India Football Federation. Dasmunsi is not taking chances as a rival faction is demanding appointment of former party State chief, Somen Mitra, to the post, arguing the West Bengal unit needs a full-time president.
They say that Dasmunsi is too busy as a Central Minister and may not be able to devote enough time to the State of West Bengal. A group of his supporters from the State party is currently camping in the national capital to push his case with the central leadership. Former Kolkata Mayor, Subrata Mukherjee, is among Dasmunsi's supporters camping in the national capital. According to him, Dasmunsi alone is capable of strengthening the party in the State.
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