Find out how Mamata Banerjee insulted and humiliated Pranab Mukherjee
He also said Banerjee emerged as a force to reckon with after the Kolkata plenary in 1997 as has had a spectacular political career.
Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee recalled when he was insulted and humiliated by West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
Noting that there was an aura about her which was "difficult to explain but impossible to ignore", Mr Mukherjee said in his new book 'The Coalition Years' that she had built her career fearlessly and aggressively and was the "outcome of her own struggle".
Mamata Banerjee is a born rebel," he wrote, adding that nothing illustrated this trait better than an episode in the West Bengal Congress organisational election in 1992, in which she was defeated.
He recollected how she suddenly changed her mind and demanded open elections in the party unit.
The former president recalled that after media reports said the top leaders of the West Bengal Congress, including Banerjee, wanted a consensus election to avoid an open contest that could bring out "ugly factionalism" in the party, then prime minister and Congress chief P V Narasimha Rao asked him to mediate and find a solution. "One day, during the winter of that year, I requested Mamata Banerjee for a meeting to discuss some of the observations she had made about the process (of organisational elections).
"During the discussion, Mamata suddenly flared up and accused me along with other leaders of a conspiracy against her. She now demanded organisational election, and said she had always stood for elections so that grass-roots level workers could have their say in organisational matters," he said in the book.
Banerjee went on to accuse him and others of "distributing organisational positions" among themselves, "thereby thwarting the electoral process", he wrote.
Mukherjee said he was "flabbergasted by her reaction and wild allegations" and told her that a compromise formula was being devised at the request of the leaders, including her. But she claimed she was totally opposed to his approach and wanted open elections, he said. "Having said that she left the meeting in a huff. I was stunned and felt humiliated and insulted," he said.
The former president said she lost by a very narrow margin to Somen Mitra in the election for the post of the WBPCC president held through a secret ballot. "I was present when that result was announced. An angry Mamata came up to me and asked, 'Are you happy? Has your desire to defeat me been fulfilled?' I told her that she was totally mistaken," Mr Mukherjee recalled.
He
told
her
he
had
played
no
role
in
the
organisational
election
since
she
last
met
him.
The
former
Congress
leader
in
the
book
also
said
that
the
evolution
of
Mamata
Banerjee
as
a
political
leader
of
substance
was
an
important
episode
in
contemporary
politics
of
West
Bengal.
"She
has
built
her
own
career
-
fearlessly
and
aggressively
-
and
what
she
is
today
is
the
outcome
of
her
own
struggle,
labour
and
hard
work.
She
has
an
aura
about
her
which
is
difficult
to
explain
but
impossible
to
ignore,"
he
said.
He also said Banerjee emerged as a force to reckon with after the Kolkata plenary in 1997 as has had a spectacular political career.
Mukherjee described her victory in the 1984 Lok Sabha when she defeated CPI(M)'s Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur, a constituency that was considered a citadel of the Marxist party. "This was a splendid victory and she appeared to be truly a giant killer.
Throughout her subsequent political life, she has always faced tough challenges bravely and tried to convert them into opportunities," he also.
OneIndia News