KOLKATA, May 4 : The defeat of Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury – one of the most enduring and combative faces of the grand old party in West Bengal – in Baharampur possibly positions him as a fading stalwart, rather than a challenger to the BJP in West Bengal.
Chowdhury was vanquished by BJP’s Subrata Maitra, who retained the Baharampur assembly seat by marginally improving on his 2021 performance, by a margin of 17,548 votes.
The Congress leader’s nomination from his home turf of Baharampur in Murshidabad was widely viewed as a “comeback bid” to the state’s political arena after a gap of three decades.
His loss comes at a time when the party he leads continues to struggle to maintain relevance in the state, managing just two wins amid the ongoing saffron surge, although it has at least managed to avoid a complete wipeout, breaking the jinx of the performance in the previous elections.
A five-time MP from Baharampur, Chowdhury rose from grassroots politics in Murshidabad to become a central figure in both state and national politics.
Known for his outspoken style and organisational grip over pockets of central Bengal, he once “single-handedly steered the Congress boat” in the state during periods of decline, emerging from the shadow of stalwarts like Pranab Mukherjee to build his own political base.
Chowdhury’s career has spanned decades, beginning with early political activism in the 1970s before formally joining the Congress during the Rajiv Gandhi era.
He first entered the Bengal assembly in 1996 and later made a breakthrough in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections by winning Baharampur, a seat long considered out of reach for the Congress. Over the years, he has held several key positions, including Minister of State for Railways in the UPA government and, more prominently, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2019.
In West Bengal, Chowdhury has been both a strategist and a survivor. He served multiple terms as president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, and played a central role in forging alliances, including the Congress-Left understanding in the 2021 assembly elections.
A staunch critic of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, he has consistently targeted her government on issues ranging from governance to electoral integrity, positioning himself as an independent pole of opposition distinct from the BJP.
However, recent years have tested his political standing. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Chowdhury suffered a major setback, losing his long-held Baharampur seat to TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan by a significant margin, prompting his resignation as state Congress chief.
Despite this, he had sought to reassert his relevance, returning to assembly politics in 2026 after nearly three decades, and contesting from Baharampur amid a three-cornered fight, which he has now lost.
Chowdhury’s political persona is defined by his combative rhetoric, deep-rooted local networks, and a reputation as a grassroots mobiliser.
He now faces the challenge of reviving a diminished Congress base.
But, more importantly, it’s his own uncertain political career he needs to tend to stay afloat in the turbulent waters of national and state politics. (PTI(
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