Episode 84 - I.N.D.I.A a majboori, West Bengal-Congress still a force - Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is an Indian politician serving as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and a Member of Parliament from Baharampur constituency in the state of West Bengal. He also heads the Public Accounts Committee as chairperson and is current president of the West Bengal Congress Committee. In his three-decade political career, Chowdhury has been an MLA in the West Bengal assembly and has also served as union minister of state for railways in the Manmohan Singh government. He was made leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha by Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi in 2021, as he was one of the most vocal MPs of the party and has been raising political as well as party issues inside as well as outside the house. Chowdhury stoked controversy on July 28, 2022 after he referred to President Droupadi Murmu as "Rashtrapatni" instead of "Rashtrapati" for which he was attacked by political opponents and he apologized for the same by writing a letter to President Murmu. In this edition of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, Chowdhury talks about the newly formed coalition of opposition parties INDIA, which is all set to contest against the incumbent NDA. He also accused the ruling dispensation of discrimination over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as the member of the Lok Sabha and said that he is ready to offer his seat to Gandhi siblings if they wish to contest next general elections. Chowdhury also talks about how poll violence has become a part and parcel in his home state under TMC’s rule and exuded confidence that the Congress party will win upcoming state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.