Shubhankar Sarkar is now appointed as the state Congress President of West Bengal after removing Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary. Thus the possibilities of changing the political equation of Congress in the state are also being expressed. Moreover, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary is a staunch opponent of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Unlike Adhir Choudhary, Subhankar Sarkar has been in favour of allying with the state’s ruling Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Because of this, there are chances of Congress once again getting closer to Trinamool Congress in Bengal.
The Congress high command, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, is in favour of building better relations with Mamata Banerjee. It is to maintain the unity of the opposition alliance formed against the BJP at the Centre. But, Adhir Chaudhary continued to oppose Trinamool after the 2011 Bengal Assembly elections. He continued to oppose Trinamool citing the intention of breaking the Congress and marginalizing the Congress in the state politics. Also, in opposition to Trinamool, he once contested the elections in alliance with Congress’ staunch opponent CPI(M) led Left Front, but Congress did not get any political benefit in Bengal.
Shubhankar Sarkar can adopt the 2011 policy
In 2001 and 2011, the Congress got political benefits in Bengal by contesting the assembly elections in alliance with the Trinamool Congress. But Mamata Banerjee broke the Congress and weakened it considerably after 2011. Now Congress is once again attempting to revitalize its party organization in Bengal with the assistance of Mamata Banerjee, following the 2011 policy. It is assumed that the Congress will be benefited by staying with Trinamool.
Shubhankar Sarkar is close to Rahul Gandhi. Moreover, he is one of the two people included in Rahul’s youth brigade from West Bengal. According to sources, Shubhankar has been appointed as the state president to lead the Congress in Bengal based on the policies of Rahul Gandhi.
A senior party leader said that Shubhankar Sarkar was in charge of other northeastern states including Meghalaya and Arunachal. Moreover, he demonstrated better management in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the Northeast. While leading Karnataka, he demonstrated superior political skills during the assembly elections there. Furthermore, Rahul Gandhi is seeing more potential in Subhanker Sarkar.
