Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee has achieved a major feat by winning his maiden election. He wrested the Nalhati Assembly constituency in Birbhum district from the Left Front after 43 years by trouncing the Forward Bloc candidate Deepak Chatterjee by over 15,000 votes.
Mukherjee Junior had taken a grave risk by giving up his high-profile and rewarding job as the general manager in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and embark on an uncertain political career. But he made a smooth transition from air-conditioned boardrooms to the heat and dust of electoral politics.
Mr Mukherjee, whose family hails from Kinnahar in Birbhum, was initially reluctant to enter politics. However, it was on the persistent request of the people of Nalhati that he decided to take the plunge. “The Congress had won Nalhati last in 1962. The Left Front had winning the seat since 1967 and the people of Nalhati wanted a change,” Mr Mukherjee said.