Bengal Cong chief Somen Mitra is no more

West Bengal Congress chief Somen Mitra died at a Kolkata hospital last week. He was 78. He was suffering from heart and kidney problems. He died following a cardiac arrest, hospital sources said. Born on December 31, 1941, in Jessore district (now Bangladesh), Somen Mitra was the eldest of five siblings. A stalwart in West Bengal politics, Somen Mitra joined politics in 1960s as a student leader. After his baptism in politics in 1967, he quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the most popular leaders of Congress along with late union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. Mentored by Congress stalwarts like ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Somen Mitra's first brush with electoral politics was in 1972 when he became the youngest MLA in the West Bengal Assembly from the Sealdah seat at 26. He continued to win the the seat, except for 1977, for six consecutive terms from 1982 to 2006.