Pranab’s son joins Congress, to contest (Lead)

March 14th, 2011 - 9:55 pm ICT by IANS  

Pranab Mukherjee Kolkata, March 14 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijeet Monday joined the Congress, and is likely to be the party’s candidate from Birbhum in the West Bengal assembly elections.

“I became a Congress member today, and now I am, in the words of (Congress general secretary) Rahul Gandhi, a servant of the common man,” the soft-spoken Mukherjee told reporters.

He said he had the blessings of his famous father — the de facto number three in the Congress hierarchy.

“As is usual in an Indian family, I sought the permission of my father. He said the decision is yours. You have my blessings.

“After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to take the plunge,” said Abhijeet Mukherjee, who quit the Steel Authority of India as general manager a few days back.

He said he would start “serving” people in his home district Birbhum.

On being the son of a famous father, he quipped: “Having a famous father has its disadvantages as well as advantages. Would you all have assembled here had anybody else been here instead of me?”

The younger Mukherjee is likely to be fielded as a Congress candidte from Birbhum’s Nalhati constituency in the April-May assembly polls.

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