Kumar became the general secretary of the RCPI (Pannanlal Dasgupta group) at the All India Conference held in Howrah in 1960.[1] He held the post until his death.[2] As of 1963 he was listed as the editor of the monthly Marxism Today.[3]
Kumar's tenure as minister was short and turbulent. The two elected RCPI state legislators, Anadi Das and M. Mokshed Ali, accused Kumar of having tried to coerce them to resign in order for Kumar to be able to contest their seats in a by-poll.[13][14] In July 1969 Kumar expelled both of the RCPI legislators from RCPI, creating a split in the party.[4] Around the same time two United Front member parties, the All India Forward Bloc and the Socialist Unity Centre of India, demanded Kumar's resignation.[15] A June 1969 edition of Himmat reported that Kumar was about to lose his ministerial post.[11] As the West Bengal Legislative Council was abolished in August 1969 (to which Kumar, in theory, had a chance to get elected) and none of the elected legislators had been willing to resign to enable Kumar to get elected, Kumar was forced to resign from his ministerial post.[16]
1971 elections
After the fall of the United Front cabinet, the RCPI (Sudhin Kumar group) joined the CPI(M)-led United Left Front.[17] The front, which was formally constituted in May 1970, had Kumar as its convenor.[12] Kumar, along with Hare Krishna Konar of CPI(M), was tasked with drafting the joint electoral manifesto.[9]
Kumar won the Howrah Central seat, defeating the candidates of Congress(O), Bangla Congress as well as his former party comrade Anadi Das.[18] He obtained 12,616 votes (39.80%).[18] However, in the subsequent 1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Kumar lost the Howrah Central seat to Mrityunjoy Banerjee.[19] Kumar finished in second place with 15,870 votes (37.77%).[19]
^ abBritish Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service (November 1967). Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East. Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.