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Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

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Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
Chowdhury in 2013
President of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
In office
9 September 2020 – 21 September 2024
PresidentMallikarjun Kharge
Sonia Gandhi
Preceded bySomendra Nath Mitra
Succeeded bySubhankar Sarkar
In office
11 February 2014 – 22 September 2018
PresidentSonia Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi
Preceded byPradip Bhattacharya
Succeeded bySomendra Nath Mitra
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
11 October 1999 – 4 June 2024
Preceded byPromothes Mukherjee
Succeeded byYusuf Pathan
ConstituencyBaharampur, West Bengal
Leader of the Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha
In office
18 July 2021 – 4 June 2024
PresidentRam Nath Kovind
Droupadi Murmu
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
DeputyGaurav Gogoi
LS SpeakerOm Birla
Preceded byRavneet Singh Bittu
Succeeded byRahul Gandhi (as Leader of the Opposition)
In office
16 June 2019 – 11 March 2021
PresidentRam Nath Kovind
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
LS SpeakerOm Birla
Preceded byMallikarjun Kharge
Succeeded byRavneet Singh Bittu
Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee
In office
26 July 2019 – 5 June 2024
Appointed byOm Birla (Lok Sabha Speaker)
Preceded byMallikarjun Kharge
Succeeded byK. C. Venugopal
Union Minister of State for Railways
In office
28 October 2012 – 26 May 2014
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
Preceded byK. J. Surya Prakash Reddy
Succeeded byManoj Sinha
Rajen Gohain
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office
1996–1999
Preceded bySisir Sarkar
ConstituencyNabagram
Personal details
Born (1956-04-02) 2 April 1956 (age 68)
Berhampore, West Bengal, India
Political partyIndian National Congress
Spouse
    Arpita Chowdhury
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1987; died 2019)​
    • Atasi Chattopadhyaya Chowdhury
Children2
Residence(s)Murshidabad, West Bengal, India
Profession
  • Social worker
  • politician
Source: [1]

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and from 2019 to 2024 and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore from 1999 to 2024.[1][2] He has served as the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) following the demise of Somendra Nath Mitra from 2020 to 2024.[3] and previously from 2014 to 2018, Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee since 2019 till 2024, Minister of State of Railways from 2012 to 2014 and the member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 1999.[4]

Personal life

[edit]

Chowdhury was born on 2 April 1956 to Niranjan and Saroja Bala Chowdhury at Berhampore in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. He studied at I.C. Institute in Berhampore.[5]

Chowdhury married Arpita Chowdhury on 15 September 1987.[6] They had a daughter, Shreyashi, who died in October 2006.[7][8] On 9 January 2019, Arpita died.[9] He later married Atashi C Chowdhury.[5][10]

Political career

[edit]

In the 1970s, Choudhary was involved with the Naxalism movement.[11] He joined the Indian National Congress party during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi. In 1991, he contested the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election from Nabagram constituency. During the polling, he was chased by 300 supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and held hostage by its candidate. Chowdhury lost by a margin of 1,401 votes. In 1996, he was elected from the same constituency.[12] Chowdhury polled 76,852 votes and won by a margin of approximately 20,329 votes.[13]

Chowdhury contested the 1999 Indian general election from Berhampore constituency. He won by a margin of 95,391 votes[12] and defeated his nearest rival, the sitting MP Pramothes Mukherjee of Revolutionary Socialist Party.[14] Following his success, he was made the Congress president for the Murshidabad district.[12] Between 1999 and 2000, he served as a member of Committee on Information Technology, Railway Convention Committee and Committee to Review the Rate of Dividend Payable by the Railway Undertaking to the General Revenues. Between 2000 and 2004, he served as a member of Consultative Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs.[5] In 2003, under Chowdhury's leadership, the Congress party won 23 out of 33 zilla parishad seats, 13 out of 26 panchayat samitis and 104 out of 254 village councils in Murshidabad.[12]

On 28 October 2012 he was inducted in the Union Ministry under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of State for Railways.[15]

Chowdhury taking charge as the Minister of State for Railways, in New Delhi on 29 October 2012

He became the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress on 10 February 2014.[16]

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha

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In June 2019, he was selected as Congress leader in Lok Sabha. According to a report in NDTV, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was given the job after the party failed to convince Rahul Gandhi.[17] On 26 July 2019, Chowdhury was appointed the chairman of Seventeenth Lok Sabha Committee on Public Accounts. The Public Accounts Committee is now constituted every year under Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.[18]

After passing away of Somen Mitra, the then president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, on 9 September 2020, Chowdhury was appointed the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.[19]

On 12 January 2022, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Anand Sharma, asking the committee to discuss the "Violative Software Application 'Tek Fog'", in their next meeting.[20]

Upset election defeat and resignation

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In a massive electoral upset, Chowdhury was defeated in INC's own bastion Berhampore by TMC fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan by more than 85,000+ votes in the 2024 Indian general election.[2] Following INC's debacle in West Bengal, he resigned from his post of president of WBPCC on 21 June 2024.[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "After Rahul Gandhi refuses, Congress names Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as its leader in Lok Sabha: Reports". Times Now. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b "After 5 Terms As Baharampur MP, Adhir Chowdhury Bowled Out By Yusuf Pathan". NDTV. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Resigns As West Bengal Congress Chief After Dismal Show In Lok Sabha Election 2024". MSN. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  4. ^ Adhir Chowdhury -Political Profile Archived 6 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Adhir Chowdhury -Political Profile
  5. ^ a b c "Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  6. ^ "CHOWDHURY, SHRI ADHIR RANJAN". 14 th Lok Sabha. Archived from the original on 7 September 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Congress MP's daughter loses battle for life". Zee News. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  8. ^ "MP's daughter in suicide bid". The Telegraph. 18 October 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  9. ^ "প্রয়াত বহরমপুরের 'দিদিভাই' অধীর চৌধুরীর স্ত্রী অর্পিতা" [Adhir Chowdhury's wife and Berhampore's 'Didibhai' dies]. Anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Anandabazar Patrika. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  10. ^ Kapoor, Ria (18 April 2020). "'Sometimes they cry on phone..': Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says 'I've written to PM to send migrants home'". Times Now. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  11. ^ Dey, Sreyashi (5 February 2024). "Former Naxal, Sonia's 'Royal Bengal tiger' & people's 'Robin Hood' — who is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury". ThePrint. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d "Congress finds a champion in former Naxalite Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to take on Left Front". India Today. 9 June 2003. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Nabagram". Elections in India. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  14. ^ "Berhampore". Elections. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  15. ^ "UPA ministry gets 17 new faces, core team stays". News 18. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  16. ^ "In tough message, Cong makes Adhir Chowdhury PCC chief". The Times of India. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  17. ^ Singh, Mausami (18 June 2019). "West Bengal's Adhir Ranjan is Congress leader in Lok Sabha". India Today. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  18. ^ "दो कमेटियों का गठनः कांग्रेसी चौधरी एक के तो दूसरे की लेखी अध्यक्ष". Jansatta (in Hindi). 26 July 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Appointed West Bengal Congress Chief". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  20. ^ "After Derek O'Brien, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Asks Standing Committee to Discuss 'Tek Fog'". The Wire. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
[edit]
Lok Sabha
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
in Lok Sabha
2019 – 2024 		Succeeded by
Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Berhampore
1999 – 2024 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
10 February 2014 – 21 September 2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
9 September 2020 – August 2024


Preceded by Leader of the Indian National Congress
in the Lok Sabha
16 June 2019 – 11 March 2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Indian National Congress
in the Lok Sabha
18 July 2021 – 4 June 2024 		Succeeded by
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