Speaking at the function organised by Congress councillor Santosh Pathak of Ward 45 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Mitra alleged that law and order situation in the state has fallen apart and said, “There has been no change in people's safety issues despite a change of regime after 34 years of Left Front's misrule.”
A Congress member of the West Bengal Assembly from 1972 to 2006 from Sealdah here, he had left the Congress and formed a new party - Pragatisheel Indira Congress in 2008, following differences with the party leadership. In October 2009, he merged his party with the Trinamool Congress and went on to become an MP from Diamond Harbour constituency.