Statesman News Service MALDA,(India) March. 1. — It is still undecided who will be nominated as the Congress candidate against CPI-M’s Mr Sailen Sarkar, minister for food processing industries and horticulture, for the Ratua Assembly constituency.
Political observers have informed that till date the names of three Congress candidates have come up against the CPI-M candidate, but the final selection is yet to be taken.
It may be recalled that the Ratua Assembly constituency is part of the Raiganj parliamentary constituency, from where Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was elected as the MP and implemented development projects in the Malda district to gain political mileage.
Mr Das Munshi is expected to play a vital role in nominating the Congress candidate in Ratua against the CPI-M candidate, but the verdict will be given by Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury.
Mr Asit Bose, former secretary of Malda Bar Council and vice president of the State Bar Council may contest from the Ratua area as the Congress candidate, a political observer said.
“Mr Asit Bose is one of the very close associates of Mr Das Munshi. The Union minister for information and broadcasting is busy introducing Mr Bose in the area through various programmes,” the political observer added.
But, according to another group of political observers, Mr Samar Mukherjee, the former Congress MLA, who contested against Mr Sailen Sarkar in the last Assembly election, will again be in the race for becoming the Congress candidate in Ratua.
Political observers have Mr Samar Mukherjee on the Congress candidate list as he is very close to Mr Pranab Mukherjee, MP and Union minister for defence and had contested from Ratua in the last Assembly elections, but Mr Sarkar defeated him.
Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, has been playing a key role in the nomination of Congress candidate. While the sister of the veteran Congress leader, Mrs Rubi Noor, is the president of Malda district Congress, a nod from Mr Ghani Khan Choudhury is also necessary to get a Congress ticket in Ratua.
As such, another name, Mr Soumitra Roy, who is an office bearer of Malda Zilla Parishad, has come up from the camp of Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. Interestingly, both Mr Soumitra Roy and Mr Samar Mukherjee are in touch with the Union minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi.
The newly-elected president of the Malda Bar Council, Mr Nikhil Gupta, said: “As it is planning to contest as Congress candidate from Ratua. He seems to be so busy that he did not even file for the nomination of the Bar Council election that was held a few days back.”
On the other hand, political observers are keeping a close tab on the issue of difference in opinion between the two top leaders, Mr Ghani Khan Choudhury and Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi on an array of issues.
It may be a political loss for the Congress, if the personality clash between the two prominent leaders continues.
It was decided that a large group of Intuc members would show “black flags” to the Union minister, Mr Das Munshi, when he will visit Malda.
The Malda MP has blamed Mr Das Munshi for shifting the route of Gour Express, which he had introduced during his tenure as the railway minister.
Not only that, Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury also claimed that he had not issued any letter to railway minister Mr Lalu Prasad, appreciating his effort to introduce a link train with Gour Express. #
State minister Mr. Sailen Sarkar
Pic . Anindita Roy
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