Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit quits Congress, joins TMC

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son and ex-Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress party on Monday.

KOLKATA: Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son and ex-Congress MP from Jangipur Abhijit Mukherjee formally joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress party in Kolkata on Monday.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee joins Trinamool Congress in Kolkata pic.twitter.com/LVLPdzpVCt

— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2021

He was welcomed into the party by TMC leader in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, amid shouts of 'Mamata Banerjee Zindabad!'

"Didi succeeded in halting the BJP juggernaut in West Bengal. She is the most credible secular leader in the country who can fight and defeat the communal BJP. I have left one Congress to join another. We are sure of resisting the saffron camp across India in the future," Mukherjee said.

The former Congress MP from Jangipur has been in talks with the TMC leadership for the past few weeks. Abhijit Mukherjee had also met Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata last month. 

His meetings with senior TMC leaders had triggered speculations about his joining the Mamata Banerjee-led ruling party soon.  

Giving enough indications about his next political move, Abhijit Mukherjee had voiced support for Mamata Banerjee on Twitter during the fake vaccination row in Kolkata.

In a tweet, he said, “If Didi Mamata Banerjee is to be blamed personally for a fake vaccination camp by an impersonating IAS Officer Debanjan Deb, then surely ModiJi is to blamed for all the scams by Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi etc. So no point blaming the Govt of WB for an individual act”.

His open support to Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has further widened the divide in the West Bengal Congress unit and his differences with senior party leaders.

Interestingly, Abhijit's sister, Sharmishtha Mukherjee still remains a Congress leader. She is based in Delhi.