Father could never make it, but there is a strong possibility that the son might make it. Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is in a comfortable position to get elected from Nalhati assembly seat this time. If this happens then he would realise his father’s unfulfilled dream of getting elected from their home district Birbhum. Pranab Mukherjee is candid enough to admit this. After addressing a modest rally at Haridaspur village in Nalhati on Moday, he admitted that, “I tried once, but did not get the peoples’ support. Let’s see if he (his son Abhijit) can get the support of the people.”
In his long and successful political career, Pranab Mukherjee did contest once from Bolpur in 1980, but lost to the CPI (M) candidate. Though his father Kamadaranjan Mukherjee used to get elected in Union Board in those pre-independence days before he became a MLC, Pranab had no luck with the people of Birbhum. Content with the Rajya Sabha seat for larger part of his political life, finally he got elected to Lok Sabha in 2004 from neighboring district Murshidabad. “I have no regret, no ill feeling towards the people of Birbhum,” commented Pranab Mukherjee.
While introducing the Congress candidate to the voters of Nalhati, he never utters the words ‘my son’. Taking Abhijit along his side on the stage, Mukherjee simply says, “The candidate is new. He has joined politics very recently. But I assure you, he will work hard for the development of this area.” At the same time he drops hints at the things might follow if he get elected by alluring to the development projects he initiated in his own constituency Jangipur. His son is more emphatic on this issue. “I have already identified some of the core needs of the area after talking to the people. Water is a major problem here. There is lack of irrigation, lack of potable water. There is an urgent need for a railway over bridge here. Mamata Banerjee has assured me that she would attend to that. Also, to give the greater connectivity, the Azimgunj-Nalhati single line would be converted to double line soon,” assures Abhijit. With Pranab’s son being the candidate, there is growing expectation among the people here. Dr. Soumendranath Chatterjee, senior physician of Nalhati, endorses the view, “Nalhati has been neglected for years. It urgently needs all round development. If he wins, we might expect some development will take place here.”
Veteran of several election campaigns (he has been in charge of that for the Congress in a number of elections) Pranab has given very simple piece of advice to his son: just go door to door and make contact with the local people. Do the hard work. Don’t bother about the outcome. At the same time, he leaves no stone unturned to ensure his son’s chance of winning the seat. In his two days tour of Nalhati, Pranab has addressed a number of mass meetings yesterday and followed it up with a road show today. At the last lap of the campaign, Sonia Gandhi is expected to come to Nalhati and campaign for Pranab’s son. “Mamata Banerjee is also like to come with Soniaj Gandhi. I have already spoken to Mamata about that,” says Abhijit.