2 min readKolkataAug 22, 2014 12:47 AM IST
First published on: Aug 22, 2014 at 12:47 AM IST
In a setback to the Congress in West Bengal, the state president of its youth wing, Soumik Hossain, and hundreds of his supporters will join the ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday.
Hossain, son of former Murshidabad MP Abdul Mannan Hossain, blamed state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s attitude for his move. He said the PCC chief was turning the Congress party into “Adhir Congress” where “only his yes men are allowed to succeed”.
“We had been insulted at every step ever since he took over as the PCC chief,” Hossain said. To hammer his point home , he cited the example of the Lok Sabha elections. “Adhir had opposed the Indian Youth Congress’s move of giving Lok Sabha tickets to the State Youth Congress members. He had, instead, put his own candidates in the fray who were undeserving and eventually lost,” Hossain said.
Hossain alleged that Adhir was working in connivance with the CPI-M and BJP to present his home district Murshidabad as outstanding in the state in spite of the party facing disaster elsewhere. “He never stood by the side of the Congress workers who were beaten up and now openly insults senior leaders of the party,” he said.
He also alleged that after the rout in the Lok Sabha election, Chowdhury dissolved all the sub-committees except for the ones in Murshidabad. “The new committees have not yet been formed,” he added.
A senior TMC leader, meanwhile, confirmed that Hossain wil formally join the ruling party in the presence of TMC general secretary Mukul Roy. He said, it was likely that Hossain would be made in charge of the Murshidabad district.
Contacted, senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said his requests to the defecting leaders have had no impact. Adhir, however, said, “What can I do to chain them back to the Congress? They are leaving at will. They are free to do so”.
On dissolving the committees, he said they cease to exist when a new president is elected.
“Despite being dissolved, the old committees continue to function till the new ones are appointed. There should not be any confusion about it,” he said.
Share
