Cong banks on Malda by-poll

Statesman News Service

MALDA, May 17: The fate of the Congress in Malda depends on the results of the forthcoming by-election for the Malda Lok Sabha seat, a senior Congress leader of the district said here today. After the debacle in the Assembly election in Malda and the demise of ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, Congress leaders are worried about their party’s future. The Congress leaders are upset after conducting a postmortem to know the cause of the defeat of Mr AH Khan Choudhury, brother of ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, in Kaliachak. “It was beyond our imagination that the sentimental wave would not work in Kaliachak. Is it true that the last speech of chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kaliachak had banished all sympathy,” asked Mr Goutam Chakraborty, Congresss sabhadhipati of Malda Zilla Parishad. Addressing an election campaign in Malda, Mr Bhattacharjee had said: “After Ghani Khan, nobody in Malda Congress can fulfil the dream of the great leader for development in this district.“In his absence, only we can fulfil his dream. Have faith in the Left Front government, have faith in me. I am assuring you. We will develop the region as desired by Ghani Khan.” Mr Chakraborty said: “The Malda parliamentary by-election is more important to establish the strength of the organisation in the absence of Barkatda and the fate of the Malda Congress will depend on its result.” “We had made a mistake by projecting Ghani Khan as the face of all achievements and developmental works carried out in the last few years. As a result, people felt that in the absence of Khan Choudhury, there is no one to work for development in this district. People in Malda, particularly the minority group, depended on the Congress stalwart for their safety and security. But after his death, people decided to change track, by supporting the CPI-M,” they said.