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...
