Avijit Mukherjee, son of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is poised to enter politics by contesting the crucial West Bengal Assembly polls in 2011 on a Congress ticket from a Left bastion in Birbhum district. The 52-year-old executive, now working as general manager of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), has already visited Nalhati constituency and assessed his poll prospects.
In the backdrop of the CPM?s decline in West Bengal, Avijit?s entry has become important for the Congress. In the 2011 Assembly polls by all accounts, the scenario looks tilted in favour of a power shift towards the Congress-TMC alliance.
Avijit, an engineering graduate from Jadavpur University, hails from a remote village Miriti in Birbhum district and currently resides in New Delhi. His wife Chitralekha is a homemaker, and his son and daughter study in the UK.
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said that though Avijit was yet to formally announce his political debut ?It would be a welcome development, because Pranabda is playing a decisive role in Indian politics. If his son comes to politics, we should congratulate him?. Avijit?s name has been discussed in political circles ever since he attended a party gathering hosted by Birbhum district Congress president Asit Mal at Nalhati on November 3. But local Congress sources said it would not be possible for Avijit to win the polls without taking Biplab Ojha, the TMC aspirant for Nalhati seat into confidence. ?I have also heard that Avijitbabu may contest from Nalhati. Let us see what happens in the next few days,? says Ojha.
State Congress sources said that senior Congress leaders have interacted with Avijit and they believe in his winnability. Many leaders close to Mukherjee claim that although Avijit has no links with politics, he closely watches political developments. ?We will get a new face once Avijit joins politics. Obviously, this is a positive development,? said Roy.
