West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra dies at 78

West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra died in Kolkata in the early hours of Thursday. He was 78. He is survived by his wife and son.

Mitra was admitted to a city hospital a few days back when some complications were noticed during a routine check-up. He died in the early hours of Thursday following a cardiac arrest. He had tested negative for COVID-19.

He was three-time president of the West Bengal Congress and a seven-term MLA from the Sealdah assembly constituency. He was popularly known as Chhorda (younger brother). Mitra had quit the Congress party in 2008 and formed his own political outfit, called the Pragatishil Indira Congress. Later, he merged his outfit with the Trinamool Congress when he joined Mamata Banerjee’s party. He won in 2009 from the Trinamool Congress from the Diamond Harbour seat. But he quit the Trinamool in 2014, resigning from the MP post and joined the Congress again. He has been heading the Congress’ West Bengal unit since September 2018.

Mitra is known to be behind formation of the alliance between the Congress and the CPI(M) in Bengal during the 2016 assembly polls.

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