Senior congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday denied reports that he has resigned as the president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.
He claimed that in accordance with the constitution of the Congress party, presidents of all state units have become temporary chiefs after the election of the party’s national president, Mallikarjun Kharge.
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The speculation over his ‘resignation’ began when in a review meeting of an extended state committee of the Bengal Congress, Chowdhury referred to himself as its “acting state president”. However, Chowdhury told mediapersons later that he is serving as “interim president”, adding that party president (Kharge) would take a final decision on the next state unit president.
Sources in the Congress said that in the review meeting, Adhir told party leaders that the high command would choose the new president and that they all should accept that decision.
Several leaders expressed confidence in Chowdhury’s leadership, the sources said.
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Ghulam Ahmed Mir, an observer of the AICC who attended the meeting, said that a final decision would be taken “after discussion with everyone”.
Meanwhile, Chowdhury would remain the state president, Mir added.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, the Congress bagged only one seat in Bengal as Isha Khan Chowdhury won from Malda-South constituency. In 2019, the Congress won two seats in the state.
Adhir Chowdhury who won in 2019, lost this time from Baharampur constituency. Also, the Congress alliance with the CPIM-led Left front did not get a single seat this time.
Emphasising that his party would continue its fight against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal, Chowdhury said on Friday, “I have no personal enmity with [Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee but we can’t support the corruption of the TMC. We will always fight against the way the TMC wanted to finish off the Congress in Bengal.”
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (File Photo) 
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