Congmen unhappy over North Malda nomination

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 18: Hundreds of followers of the Congress leader Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi have expressed their dissatisfaction at the candidate selected for the North Malda parliamentary seat.

Party leaders are also dismayed at the Malda Congress MP, Mr AH Khan Choudhury's decision to select his elder brother Dr AN Khan Choudhury as the candidate for North Malda.

Though the All India Congress Committee is yet to announce the candidate for North Malda, the leaders claim to have information that Dr Khan Choudhury will be projected from the seat. They argued that Dr Khan's anti-party activity and a controversy over his citizenship were the main reasons for the delay in announcing his candidature.

Many Congress leaders have opposed Mr AH Khan Choudhury's decision to select his elder brother because Dr Khan Choudhury campaigned against his elder brother and former Congress stalwart and union minister ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury in 1996.

Mr Asif Mehbub, MLA from Kharba under North Malda constituency, said: “We wanted Mrs Dipa Das Munshi as the candidate here. When she refused we demanded a suitable figure who would serve people in the same way as Mr Das Munshi. We approached Mrs Das Munshi and Mr Pranab Mukherjee and they discussed the matter with Mrs Sonia Gandhi.”

“The district Congress committee did not discuss the selection of Dr AN Khan Choudhury with us and did not trouble to seek the opinions of leaders from the four newly-formed assembly segments: Harishchandrapur; Chanchal; Malatipur and even Gazol. The people are aggrieved and have become more sentimental on this issue,” Mr Asif Mehbub stated.

"Now we have to overcome a difficult situation and follow a Congress symbol rather than a man. It will take time to get over the aggrieved sentiments among the party workers,” Mr Mehbub said.

Both Mr AH Khan Choudhury and the proposed candidate, Dr AN Khan Choudhury, alias Lebu, have been camping in New Delhi attempting to secure the ticket for North Malda. Mr AH Khan Choudhury, alias Dalu, has been nominated for the South Malda constituency.

Party sources said that Mr Pranab Mukherjee would return to Delhi from Jangipur tomorrow and announce the name of the North Malda candidate on Thursday or Friday.

“Dalu-da told us last night that he would be coming to Malda on Saturday after the finalisation of the candidate for North Malda. He told us that Dr AN Khan Choudhury would be the candidate for North Malda,” said Mr Enarul Islam, member of Kaliachak Panchayat samiti under South Malda parliamentary constituency.