Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Chowdhury was born on 2 April 1956 to Niranjan and Saroja Bala Chowdhury at Berhampore in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. He studied at I.C. Institute in Berhampore.{{cite web |title=Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury |url=http://164.100.47.194/Loksabha/Members/MemberBioprofile.aspx?mpsno=97 |work=Lok Sabha |access-date=2 March 2021}}

Chowdhury married Arpita Chowdhury on 15 September 1987.{{cite web |title=CHOWDHURY, SHRI ADHIR RANJAN |url=http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=97 |website=14 th Lok Sabha |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040907205217/http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=97 |archive-date=7 September 2004 |url-status=dead}} They had a daughter, Shreyashi, who died in October 2006.{{cite web |title=Congress MP's daughter loses battle for life |url=https://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/congress-mps-daughter-loses-battle-for-life_331062.html |publisher=Zee News |access-date=30 May 2019 |date=24 October 2006}}{{cite web |title=MP's daughter in suicide bid |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/mp-s-daughter-in-suicide-bid/cid/761977 |publisher=The Telegraph |access-date=30 May 2019 |date=18 October 2006}} On 9 January 2019, Arpita died.{{cite news |title=প্রয়াত বহরমপুরের 'দিদিভাই' অধীর চৌধুরীর স্ত্রী অর্পিতা | newspaper = Anandabazar.com | trans-title = Adhir Chowdhury's wife and Berhampore's 'Didibhai' dies |url=https://www.anandabazar.com/district/nadia-murshidabad/wife-of-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-died-1.929259 |publisher=Anandabazar Patrika |access-date=30 May 2019 |language=bn |date=9 January 2019}} He later married Atashi C Chowdhury.{{cite news |last1=Kapoor |first1=Ria |title='Sometimes they cry on phone..': Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says 'I've written to PM to send migrants home' |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-turns-delhi-office-into-mini-control-room-to-help-migrants/579579 |access-date=7 March 2022 |work=Times Now |date=18 April 2020 |language=en}}

In the 1970s, Choudhary was involved with the Naxalism movement.{{cite news |last1=Dey |first1=Sreyashi |date=5 February 2024 |title=Former Naxal, Sonia's 'Royal Bengal tiger' & people's 'Robin Hood' — who is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury |url=https://theprint.in/politics/former-naxal-sonias-royal-bengal-tiger-peoples-robin-hood-who-is-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury/1952941/ |work=ThePrint |access-date=22 November 2024}} He joined the Indian National Congress party during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi. In 1991, he contested the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election from Nabagram constituency. During the polling, he was chased by 300 supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and held hostage by its candidate. Chowdhury lost by a margin of 1,401 votes. In 1996, he was elected from the same constituency.{{cite web |title=Congress finds a champion in former Naxalite Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to take on Left Front |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/states/story/20030609-congress-finds-a-champion-in-former-naxalite-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-to-take-on-left-front-792639-2003-06-09 |publisher=India Today |access-date=30 May 2019 |date=9 June 2003}} Chowdhury polled 76,852 votes and won by a margin of approximately 20,329 votes.{{cite web |title=Nabagram |url=https://www.electionsinindia.com/west-bengal/nabagram-assembly-vidhan-sabha-constituency-elections |publisher=Elections in India |access-date=30 May 2019 |archive-date=30 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530061259/https://www.electionsinindia.com/west-bengal/nabagram-assembly-vidhan-sabha-constituency-elections |url-status=dead }}

Chowdhury contested the 1999 Indian general election from Berhampore constituency. He won by a margin of 95,391 votes and defeated his nearest rival, the sitting MP Pramothes Mukherjee of Revolutionary Socialist Party.{{cite web |title=Berhampore |url=http://www.elections.in/west-bengal/parliamentary-constituencies/baharampur.html |publisher=Elections |access-date=30 May 2019}} Following his success, he was made the Congress president for the Murshidabad district. Between 1999 and 2000, he served as a member of Committee on Information Technology, Railway Convention Committee and Committee to Review the Rate of Dividend Payable by the Railway Undertaking to the General Revenues. Between 2000 and 2004, he served as a member of Consultative Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs. In 2003, under Chowdhury's leadership, the Congress party won 23 out of 33 zilla parishad seats, 13 out of 26 panchayat samitis and 104 out of 254 village councils in Murshidabad.

On 28 October 2012 he was inducted in the Union Ministry under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of State for Railways.{{Cite news | url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/cabinet-reshuffle-18-518897.html | title=UPA ministry gets 17 new faces, core team stays| date=28 October 2012 |work=News 18 |access-date=23 March 2020}}

File:Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury taking charge as the Minister of State for Railways, in New Delhi on October 29, 2012.jpgHe became the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress on 10 February 2014.{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/In-tough-message-Cong-makes-Adhir-Chowdhury-PCC-chief/articleshow/30180087.cms|title=In tough message, Cong makes Adhir Chowdhury PCC chief|date=11 February 2014|work=The Times of India|access-date=20 September 2016}}

In June 2019, he was selected as Congress leader in Lok Sabha. According to a report in NDTV, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was given the job after the party failed to convince Rahul Gandhi.{{Cite news | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-leader-of-congress-in-lok-sabha-1551203-2019-06-18 | title=West Bengal's Adhir Ranjan is Congress leader in Lok Sabha |work=India Today |date=18 June 2019|first=Mausami |last=Singh |access-date=23 March 2020}}

On 26 July 2019, Chowdhury was appointed the chairman of Seventeenth Lok Sabha Committee on Public Accounts. The Public Accounts Committee is now constituted every year under Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.{{cite news |title=दो कमेटियों का गठनः कांग्रेसी चौधरी एक के तो दूसरे की लेखी अध्यक्ष |url=https://www.jansatta.com/national/lok-sabha-speaker-om-birla-appoints-meenakashi-lekhi-chairman-committee-public-undertakings-congress-mp-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-chairperson-public-accounts-committee-aka-pac/1098329/ |access-date=4 August 2019 |work=Jansatta |date=26 July 2019 |language=hi}}

After the death of Somen Mitra, the then president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, on 9 September 2020, Chowdhury was appointed the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.{{cite news |url =https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-appointed-west-bengal-congress-chief-2293039 |title =Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Appointed West Bengal Congress Chief |work=NDTV |agency=Press Trust of India |date=9 September 2020 |access-date =9 September 2020}}

On 12 January 2022, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Anand Sharma, asking the committee to discuss the "Violative Software Application 'Tek Fog'", in their next meeting.{{cite news |title=After Derek O'Brien, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Asks Standing Committee to Discuss 'Tek Fog' |url=https://thewire.in/politics/after-derek-obrien-adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-asks-standing-committee-to-discuss-tek-fog |work=The Wire |date=12 January 2022 |access-date=12 January 2022}}

In a massive electoral upset, Chowdhury was defeated in INC's own bastion Berhampore by TMC fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan by more than 85,000+ votes in the 2024 Indian general election. Following INC's debacle in West Bengal, he resigned from his post of president of WBPCC on 21 June 2024.{{cite news |title=Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Resigns As West Bengal Congress Chief After Dismal Show In Lok Sabha Election 2024 |url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/adhir-ranjan-chowdhury-resigns-as-west-bengal-congress-chief-after-dismal-show-in-lok-sabha-election-2024/ar-BB1oE8DQ |work=MSN |date=21 June 2024 |access-date=21 June 2024}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{commons category-inline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040907205217/http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=97 Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website (cache site)]

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|in-lwr}}

{{s-bef|before=Mallikarjun Kharge}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Opposition
in Lok Sabha |years=2019 – 2024}}

{{s-aft|after=Rahul Gandhi}}

{{s-par|in-lwr}}

{{s-bef|before=Promothes Mukherjee}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament
for Berhampore |years=1999 – 2024}}

{{s-aft|after=}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-ppo|in-lwr}}

{{s-bef|before=Pradip Bhattacharya}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee |years=10 February 2014 – 21 September 2018}}

{{s-aft|after=Somen Mitra}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Somen Mitra}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee |years=9 September 2020 – August 2024}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-bef|before=Mallikarjun Kharge}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Indian National Congress
in the Lok Sabha|years=16 June 2019 – 11 March 2021}}

{{s-aft|after=Ravneet Singh Bittu}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Ravneet Singh Bittu}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Indian National Congress
in the Lok Sabha|years=18 July 2021 – 4 June 2024}}

{{s-aft|after=Rahul Gandhi}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-end}}

{{17th Lok Sabha members from all states}}

{{16th LS members from West Bengal}}

{{15th LS members from West Bengal}}

{{Eleventh to Fourteenth Lok Sabha, West Bengal}}

{{West Bengal Legislative Assembly5}}

{{Indian National Congress}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Adhir Ranjan}}

Category:1956 births

Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal

Category:Living people

Category:Politicians from Murshidabad district

Category:India MPs 2004–2009

Category:India MPs 2009–2014

Category:Lok Sabha members from West Bengal

Category:India MPs 2014–2019

Category:India MPs 1999–2004

Category:India MPs 2019–2024

Category:West Bengal MLAs 1996–2001

Category:Presidents of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee

Category:Union ministers of state of India