After Daughter, Pranab’s Son Too May Have to Speak Up on RSS Event: West Bengal Congress Chief

New Delhi: West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday said Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit may have to follow in his sister’s footsteps and speak out against the former president’s decision to address an RSS event in Nagpur.

Speaking to News18.com, Chowdhury said, “Pranab Mukherjee has never been a popular leader in Bengal. He is known as a knowledgeable person. He joined the Congress, left to form his own party and then returned…. We encouraged him to contest from Murshidabad. He isn’t a simpleton. He has immense knowledge of Indian politics, but only he can answer why he has gone to Nagpur."

Chowdhury added that Pranab’s attendance at the RSS event would give the BJP ammunition to target the Congress. “The BJP is doing politics in Bengal. And with this, they’ll have a spicy material that they’ll use against the Congress. Once a robust Congress leader, he is visiting the RSS headquarters. The BJP is a communal party and they’ll definitely make Pranab Mukherjee into a political scandal."

Asked if Pranab’s visit would impact the electoral prospects of his son Abhijit Mukherjee in his current Lok Sabha constituency Jangipura (which includes Murshidabad), Chowdhury said, “If he (Abhijit) doesn’t speak out, there would definitely be an impact. Everything depends on what he (Pranab) says there."

Senior Congress MP and Gandhi family confidant Ahmed Patel gave a glimpse into what the party high command thought of Pranab’s move when he tweeted that he did not expect this from “Pranab da".

Patel’s tweet came a couple of hours after Pranab’s daughter and Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee publicly urged her father not to go through with the visit to RSS headquarters.

In her tweets, Sharmistha cautioned her father against his decision to address the RSS event on Thursday evening, saying he was giving the BJP and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories as his "speech will be forgotten" but the "visuals will remain". She also warned her father of the consequences of attending such a meet.

Her outburst came soon after rumours about her joining the BJP cropped up ahead of Mukherjee's visit to Nagpur tomorrow. She dismissed such "rumours" of her joining the BJP as "false" and alleged they were the handiwork of BJP's "dirty tricks department". She said she would rather leave politics than quit the Congress.

Going through with the visit despite criticism from former Congress colleagues, including Jairam Ramesh and P Chidambaram, Pranab said he will say whatever he has to at the Nagpur event.