Cong men in a fix

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 23. — The four Congress candidates for the English Bazaar, Manikchak, Ratua and Old Malda Assembly segments, whose names had been sent to New Delhi for final consideration, are still vacillating on the issue of initiating their campaign apprehending that there might be a change in the candidates’ list at the last moment. All four proposed candidates, according to the list of Malda Congress, which was sent to New Delhi for final consideration, are suffering from dilemna and waiting for a fresh decision that may come up by 26 March night, Congress sources said. More interestingly still the name of the rebel leader of Trinamul Congress, Mr KN Chowhury, is under the consideration for a Congress ticket according to the desire of Mr A BA Ghani Khan Choudhury backed by a group of Congress workers considering him as the fittest candidate for English Bazaar, after the present Malda Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati, Mr Goutam Chakraborty, despite protest from another group of Congress workers in this district. Mr KN Choudhury is silently waiting for green signal from the Congress camp even after managing a ticket from the camp of the Trinamul Congress for English Bazaar. The discussion started after selection of its candidate, Mr Phani Roy, for the English Bazaar, who had contested as Trinamul candidate in Old Malda Assembly segment during the last Assembly election, but, was defeated by the CPI-M. Sources said that if the party decides to cancel Mr Phani Roy nomination for the English Bazaar Assembly segment and re-nominated him for the Old Malda segment as the former the MLA, the question would now arise about the fate of the officially declared candidate, Mr Arjun Haldar, for Old Malda. On the other hand, Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury has nominated Mr Samar Mukherjee as the Congress candidate. Reportedly, the Union defence minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee is still anxiously waiting for a final decision with a view to start campaigning in full swing.Trouble broke out after the cancellation of the name of Mr Asit Bose, proposed by another Union minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi. Though the Congress workers belonging to Priya Ranjan Das Munshi group, have informed the press that the Union minister has finally directed Mr Asit Bose to co-ordinate the election campaign for the nominated candidate Mr Samar Mukherjee, Mr Mukherjee is still uncertain about his fate. In Manikchak, where the Malda Congress had finally selected Mr Jalil Sheikh, dropping the former MLA and last year’s contesting candidate, Mr Ram Prabesh Mandal, there may be a last moment change following the ire of Congress workers in Manikchak, sources said. It was reported that Mr ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury was unhappy over the selection of some candidates, where the CPI-M wining candidates are contesting. Particularly the Malda Congress could not select a heavy weight candidate for English Bazaar besides Mr Goutam Chakraborty, who has already expressed his unwillingness.