By IANS
Kolkata : Information and Broadcasting Minister and Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi Tuesday walked out of a function organised to celebrate the foundation day of his party’s students’ wing after a group of workers booed him and cheered former state Congress chief Somen Mitra.
The incident exposed the rift in West Bengal Congress between two camps – one led by Dasmunsi and another by Mitra, who is supposedly backed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
When Dasmunsi tried to address a gathering at the Mahajati Sadan here to mark the foundation day of Congress’s students’ wing in West Bengal ‘Chhatra Parishad’, a group raised slogans in support of Mitra.
The rebel group mounted the dais and prevented Dasmunsi from making his speech. They also garlanded Mitra.
An angry Dasmunsi walked out in a huff and left the auditorium. Former mayor and Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee, a close ally of Dasmunsi, also left with him.
However, Dasmunsi later told reporters: “I came out of the function because I was getting very late for some pressing assignments. I had told them that I would not be able to stay beyond 1 pm at any cost.”
“When I saw that the enthusiasm was scaling and it would go out of hand I chose to leave,” he said.
Somen Mitra also later chose to downplay the incident while West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) working president Pradip Bhattacharya said the incident was not serious to cause a rift between Mitra and Dasmunsi.
“They know each other so well,” Bhattacharya said.
Dasmunsi also said the name of the new West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief would be announced soon by the party high command.
Earlier this month, a three-member Congress delegation from the WBPCC led by Subrata Mukherjee had called on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and requested her to appoint Dasmunsi as the state president.