Mukherjee recorded his first successful Lok Sabha bid in 2004 and went on to win the seat again in 2009, Chowdhury firmly standing behind him. Ironically, though Mukherjee owed his electoral success to Chowdhury, in Lutyen’s Delhi circles, Chowdhury’s political identity remained that of a ‘Pranab protégé’. Some say Chowdhury’s induction into Dr Manmohan Singh’s Union council of ministers as a junior minister for railways during the UPA-II regime was Mukherjee’s way of thanking the Berhampore MP. Later, when Mukherjee vacated his Lok Sabha seat to become the President of India, his son, Abhijit Mukherjee was fielded by the Congress in the Jangipur bypoll, once again with Chowdhury playing the man in the shadows who engineered the electoral win. However, Chowdhury’s terms with Abhijit, sources say, were never like they were with Mukherjee Senior.