Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sun-day appointed the CLP leader in the West Bengal Assembly, Mr Manas Ranjan Bhunia, the new PCC president after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee relinquished the post citing “heavy government responsibilities”. The appointment of Mr Bhunia, a close associate of Mr Mukherjee, comes
after the Congress’ poor performance in the recent W. Bengal municipal elections in which its ally, the Trinamul Congress, emerged the biggest gainer. The two parties contested the elections separately.
Mr Mukherjee, 75, who has held the post for nine years, had been impressing upon the party high command to get a “full-time” president in view of the 2012 Assembly polls. AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said, “Subsequent to the decision of Pranab Mukherjee to resign from the post, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the proposal to appoint Manas Ranjan Bhunia.”