Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee rejoined the Congress on Wednesday after staying in the Trinamool Congress for four years.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee rejoined the Congress on Wednesday after being in the Trinamool Congress for four years. Former Lok Sabha member Abhijit Mukherjee was given party membership at the Congress state headquarters in Kolkata in the presence of General Secretary in-charge of party affairs in West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir MLA Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

"This is my second birthday in Congress and politics," Mukherjee told reporters after being handed the party flag by the Congress' national and state leadership.

Abhijit Mukherjee said that he had expressed his desire to rejoin the Congress in June last year but due to elections in various states, it has happened now. In July 2021, he has returned to the Congress four years after joining the Trinamool Congress.

State Congress President Subhankar Sarkar said that this is a big step of the state unit of the party to fight for the people of West Bengal. Abhijit's homecoming is being linked to the assembly elections to be held in Bengal in 2026. 

Abhijit Mukherjee won the Jangipur Lok Sabha by-election on a Congress ticket in 2012, when his father Pranab Mukherjee was elected President. Pranab Mukherjee had earlier held the responsibility of several key ministries in the central government as a Congress minister. Abhijit Mukherjee also won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the same constituency as a Congress candidate. Pranab Mukherjee passed away in 2020. 

Like Abhijit, sister Sharmishtha Mukherjee also joined the Congress in 2014. She contested the assembly elections from Greater Kailash seat in Delhi in 2015 but stood third. Sharmishtha left active politics in 2021.