What seemed like a cakewalk for the President’s son, Abhijit Mukherjee, is turning into a nail-biting photofinish. The victory of Abhijit, Congress candidate in the byelection for West Bengal’s Jangipur Lok Sabha seat—vacated by Pranab Mukherjee—was a foregone conclusion until the outbreak of hostilities between the Congress and Trinamool Congress. Sources told Outlook that Mamata Banerjee had promised Abhijit—a Congress MLA from Nalhati in West Bengal—a walk-over in Jangipur even as late as on September 15 at Raj Bhavan during the presidential visit. Now, after storming out of the Congress-led UPA, there is every possibility of Mamata pulling out all the stops to humiliate the Congress in a high-profile constituency.
Adhir Chowdhury, the influential Behrampur Congress MP who masterminded Pranab’s victory in 2004 and 2009, told Outlook that the breakdown in Trinamool-Congress relations is bound to impact Abhijit’s poll prospects. “To avoid annoying the president, Mamata might not declare war in Jangipur by fielding a Trinamool candidate. But if I know the Trinamool, it will throw its entire weight behind the CPI(M) candidate, Muzaffar Hussain. Mark my word—Muzaffar will be Mamata’s Trojan horse. But we are on our guard,” Adhir says. Besides the Congress, the CPI(M), BJP, Welfare Party of India and Social Democratic Party of India—known as simi by proxy—are in the fray in the Murshidabad district constituency where 69 per cent of voters are Muslim.
Besides Mamata’s irritation, Abhijit has to also contend with the seething anger in Jangipur over the failure of the Congress government in Assam to save Bengali-speaking Muslims from armed Bodo extremists. While the TMC and the CPI(M) are determined to fan the anger for electoral gain, Abhijit is scouting for Muslim leaders to campaign for him. On his radar is Badruddin Ajmal—the AUDF MP from Assam the TMC desperately courted for an alliance. Ajmal ignored the Trinamool’s overtures as he didn’t want to upset the Gandhis. Can Ajmal bail Abhijit out in the October 10 byelection?