Many in the Congress are trying to know what prompted Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit to choose the Nalhati Assembly seat in the Birbhum district of West Bengal to contest his maiden election. At least, history is not on his side. Non-Left parties have not won Nalhati since 1977, the year the Left Front came to power. Even Mukherjee, a veteran of many electoral wars, has expressed his reservations in close quarters about the choice of the seat for his son. But, it is equally true that the junior Mukherjee was determined from day one that he would like to fight the election from that seat. Congress insiders believe, Pranab Mukherjee’s personal charisma and equations with leaders even in the rival camp may do the trick for his son.
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