Sonia's Malda visit uncertain

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 12: Mr ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s poor health seems to have affected the Malda Congress as it is vacillating over the announcement of the arrival date of the Congress chief, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, to Malda for poll campaign even after the announcement of her arrival to West Bengal. The Malda CPI-M, however, has declared the visit of its Politburo member, Mrs Brinda Karat, and other CPI-M leaders to the district from 26 April for election campaigning. It is learnt that senior Congress leaders are anxious about Mr Khan Chowdhury’s health after they received information from the Kolkata nursing home where the Congress stalwart is admitted. Mr Chowdhury suddenly fell ill on 3 April and was airlifted to Kolkata. He is presently reported to be in a critical condition. Reportedly, the Malda CPI-M has selected 10 zones in 11 Assembly constituencies to gear up for poll campaigning. It was learnt that Mrs Karat will attend four public meetings in the eastern and northern parts of the district, including English Bazaar town. Another CPI-M leader and MP, Mr Basu Deb Acharia, will also arrive here after Mrs Karat’s visit. On 5 and 6 May, chief minister Budhhadeb Bhattacharjee will address several meetings in Malda. The chief minister will specially address meetings to be held in Ratua and English Bazaar as per his promise after he was unable to inaugurate a drinking water project here due to bad weather. He will also address a meeting in the Kaliachak area. Mrs Gandhi had come to English Bazaar town for poll campaigning during the last Assembly election. She had also come to Kaliachak earlier.During the last Lok Sabha election, she visited Samsi in north Malda for Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and thereafter went to Jangipur for Mr Pranab Mukherjee.The Malda Congress sabhadhipati, Mr Goutam Chakraborty, said he was aware of the problem and informed that a team of Congress leaders from Kolkata would soon arrive in Malda to oversee election preparations.Reportedly, Mr Khan Chowdhury’s siblings contesting from Sujapur and Kaliachak constituencies are still busy with their brother’s illness and are dependent on others for executing election work.