Congress gears up for Bengal polls, announces party panels

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijeet Mukherjee will head the key Campaign Committee of the Congress in the state. Apart from Abhijeet, a former MP, the committee has Tulsi Mukherjee.

State Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will head the Election Committee. The Manifesto Committee will work under the leadership of Abdul Mannan and the Coordination Committee under Pradeep Bhattacharya.

The party has also appointed 11 Vice-Presidents and 14 General Secretaries, apart from the 68-member State Executive.

Congress state affairs incharge Jitin Prasada said: "The party is strengthening the organisation and simultaneously preparing for the Assembly elections."

As for the alliances, Prasada said that the important issue would decided by the high command at the appropriate time if need arises. "But right now, our focus is to prepare the party for polls," he said.

The last Assembly elections were held in April-May 2016. The ruling Trinamool Congress led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had won a brute majority of 221 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The Congress has 24 MLAs, the Left 25 and the BJP 16.

The BJP had won 18 Lok Sabha seats in the state and bagged around 40 per cent votes, while the TMC bagged 22 seats with 43 per cent votes in the general elections. The Congress won only 2 seats with around 6 per cent votes while the Left parties could not win even a single Lok Sabha seat in the state.