"Hard Times Ahead": Adhir Chowdhury Accepts Defeat, Offers Resignation From WB Congress Chief's Post

Following his defeat in the Baharampur parliamentary constituency, veteran Congress leader and five-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed uncertainty about his political future on Wednesday. Chowdhury, the prominent figure for Congress in West Bengal and the state Pradesh Congress president, was defeated by Trinamool Congress's star candidate and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan by a significant margin of over 85,000 votes.

Chowdhury's loss marked a significant setback for Congress, which had retained a stronghold in Baharampur, one of the last remaining Congress bastions in the state. The party was left with only the Malda Dakshin seat in West Bengal.

In an interview with a Bengali TV channel at his Baharampur residence, Chowdhury admitted to facing "hard times" ahead. "In my fight against this government, I've neglected my income sources. I call myself a BPL MP. I have no skills beyond politics, so I foresee difficulties ahead and I have no idea how to overcome them," the 68-year-old leader shared.

Chowdhury confirmed plans to visit the Capital to vacate his MP residence, which his daughter, a student, occasionally uses for her studies. "I'll need to find a new place since I don't have one there," he said.

Regarding Mamata Banerjee's post-poll alignment with the INDIA bloc, Chowdhury stated that while he didn't oppose TMC's inclusion in the opposition platform, he had resisted an alliance with Banerjee, believing it would be politically disastrous.

When asked about his role as state PCC chief, Chowdhury said he had accepted his electoral defeat and had previously offered to resign, urging party leaders to find a more capable replacement. "I stayed on at Sonia Gandhi's request. I haven't received any calls from my leaders yet. I'll reiterate my intention to step down when they contact me," he added. He declined to comment on the party's decision not to send any leaders to campaign in Baharampur.

"We participated in Rahul Gandhi's East-West Bharat Jodo Yatra when it reached Murshidabad. Our party president Mallikarjun Kharge campaigned in Malda once but never came to Baharampur. That was a decision made by our central leadership, and I have no comment on it," he said.

Chowdhury expressed serious concerns about post-poll violence and backlash against Congress workers in the state by Trinamool supporters, urging Mamata Banerjee to ensure their safety. "The state is now under your control. There's no need to target our workers. Punish me for opposing you if you must, but leave my workers alone. They don't deserve to suffer for supporting Congress," he pleaded.

Having represented Baharampur since 1999, this election posed one of Chowdhury's toughest challenges, coming from Yusuf Pathan, the non-resident TMC candidate from Gujarat.

Defying Congress high command's wishes, Chowdhury was instrumental in forming a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left in Bengal to challenge Banerjee's ruling party in the current elections, despite Congress and TMC being part of the opposition's INDIA bloc at the national level.

A vocal critic of Banerjee since the 2011 Assembly polls and the subsequent erosion of Congress's foothold in the state due to large-scale defections to Trinamool, Chowdhury has consistently advocated for an alliance with the Left to combat both BJP and TMC in Bengal. This alliance, forged in the 2016 and 2021 state polls and partially realized in the 2019 general elections, was believed to be more effective in the current Lok Sabha elections.

However, with the Left-Congress combine's vote share and seat count further declining compared to 2019, this perception proved to be a myth, now debunked by the electoral results.